HC Deb 22 February 1895 vol 30 cc1419-20
MR. H. L. W. LAWSON (Gloucester, Cirencester)

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether any discretion is given to any County Council under the Local Government Act of 1894 to refuse an application from a duly constituted parish meeting for the establishment of a Parish Council; whether his attention has been drawn to the action of the Gloucestershire County Council in adjourning the consideration of such request for one month, and to the official letter of their clerk asking certain parishes to reconsider their decision, in view of the provisions of the 19th Section of the Act; and, whether it is within their province to take such proceedings in order to postpone or prevent the constitution of a Parish Council in the usual way; if not, whether he will issue a Circular to County Councils in England to prevent the repetition of such attempts?

THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (MR. G. J. SHAW-LEFEVRE, Bradford, Central)

My attention has been drawn to the action of the Gloucestershire County Council referred to in the question, and totheir official letter. The Local Government Act, 1894, provides that if a parish meeting of a rural parish, having a population of 100 or upwards, so resolve, the County Council shall provide for establishing a Parish Council in the parish. In such a case a County Council have no power to refuse the application, and it appears to me that they would not be justified in taking any action to prevent the constitution of a Parish Council. I am informed, however, that the Gloucestershire County Council were under the impression that some further regulations on the part of the Local Government Board were necessary before they would make orders establishing Parish Councils, and I am in communication with them as to this. I have no reason to suppose that there is any indisposition on the part of County Councils generally to establish Parish Councils where application is made to them for the purpose, and hence it does not seem to me necessary to issue any Circular on the subject.