Parish councils and meetings

There are 112 parishes in Aylesbury Vale’s area. Of these 85 are parish or town councils and 27 are parish meetings. Parishes provide the first tier of local government, in that they provide services at a village or town level. They are independent of district and county councils.

Parish councils

The number of councillors on each parish council depends on the number of people who can vote locally for that parish. The minimum number of parish councillors is five. The parish council employs a clerk who is responsible for administrative and financial affairs. Other staff may be employed depending on the scale of activity. You should contact the parish clerk with any questions about the work of your parish council. Parish councils have powers to carry out a range of functions. Activities vary between councils according to size, but usually they cover allotments, public halls and playing fields. They also provide a representative voice on behalf of the local community and comment on things like planning applications.

The parish council must meet annually and on at least three occasions during the year. An Annual Assembly must also take place between 1 March and 1 June every year which is open to the public.

Parish meetings

A parish with less than 200 electors usually has a parish meeting. The parish meeting elects a chairman and he or she (or someone else) acts as a point of contact.

Parish meetings can take on a number of functions like parish councils and comment on behalf of the local community, however, few actually provide local services. An annual meeting must be held once a year for local voters and a further meeting must take place during the year.

Please follow this link for contact details of clerks of all Parishes and Town Councils in the District.

To find out more:

A book called Local Council Administration by Charles Arnold-Baker, published by Butterworths, contains everything you need to know about parish councils and meetings. A copy is kept at Aylesbury Reference Library or it can be ordered from Bucks Association of Local Councils (BALC).