Parish and town councils could play a central role in making devolution work for communities, according to Dr Amy Burnett (LPIP Place Fellow), Dr Jason Leman (Citizen Network) and Cllr Dr Daniel Ozarow (Middlesex University and Mayor of Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council in a personal capacity).

Parish and Town councils - the democratic layer closest to communities

The Government's English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (currently at Report stage) provides an opportunity to think how the roles of parish and town councils can be reimagined and appreciated. As the democratic voice mechanism closest to neighbourhoods, they can support the lifeblood of our places, particularly if supplemented with democratic innovations. This will embed the historic and committed role that these councils have played over generations in English democracy into future local government.

A democratic deficit in the making?

The shift to unitary authorities set out in the Bill will mean significantly fewer local authority councillors per resident, alongside many community links being broken as council staff are changed and cut.

Parish and town councils offer ready-made structures to help mend links between the ‘local’ community layer and ‘meso’ government layers. However, they were initially sidelined from the proposals. Organisations like the National Association of Local Councils and Locality are calling for parish and town councils to be included as key partners in shaping proposals for new unitary authorities, with We’re Right Here also proposing Community Covenants as ‘a new model of partnership between councils and local people’.

In our discussion paper, we reflect on the role these entities might play to both articulate and broker place-based and strategic goals – if properly resourced and recognised.

Key opportunities for change

We identify several key opportunities to strengthen parish and town councils in the devolution landscape:

1. Strengthen skills and resourcing to facilitate community capacity

Parish and town councils perform a crucial role as place-based connectors of people and organisations. This could be supported through investment from local authorities and national bodies.

2. Appreciate social value in transferring assets Parish and town councils can find themselves in the situation of panic buying as unitary authorities look to shed liabilities. What places need should be balanced conversations between councils that understand the social value and long-term economic benefits that assets like community spaces bring – and wherever possible, how they enhance the local natural and heritage environment.

3. Consider the potential of technology at the small scale

It takes a particular kind of dedicated or interested individual to attend a parish meeting, let alone scrutinise council minutes. The use of Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models to reduce the burden on staff and increase public engagement is being explored by NALC.

4. Critical reflection on power in the community

Parish and town councils need tools to sense-check who exercises power and influence, and how to foster greater inclusion. Examples of successful democratic innovations like community assemblies or participatory budgeting need building upon.

Making devolution work locally

The empowering – and creation where they don't exist – of a layer of government at the scale of towns, neighbourhoods and parishes is essential. Neighbourhood governance arrangements set up by principal authorities (Section 60 of the Bill) may favour the Unitary’s interests or be perceived as doing so. Parish and town councils are a valuable and important part of devolution, being a potential platform for community voice that can sit with Unitary-led neighbourhood governance.

Amendments at the final Committee stages of the Bill over the past month offer hope. For instance, by:

• Requiring a community governance review in each new unitary authority area, with the expectation that new parish and town councils are created where appropriate.

• Clarifying the role of Neighbourhood Area Committees, including representation from parish and town councils.

• Extending the General Power of Competence to all parish and town councils to stimulate the engagement and professionalism that is currently a bar to these powers.

However, key legislation and resourcing remain outstanding. The local government standards regime needs reform, not least to allow parish and town councils to hold remote meetings to make them more inclusive. There needs to be a formula for fairer and sustainable funding alongside support for training for parish and town council staff and councillors in the context of local government reorganisation (LGR).

The question is whether current devolution proposals will recognise and resource this potential, or risk creating an even greater democratic deficit at precisely the moment when communities need stronger local voice.