Hodnet Parish Council

Hodnet Parish Council now has its own website, visit www.hodnet-pc.gov.uk If you wish to contact the council, in the first instance please contact the Clerk on 07946 112161 or by email using: clerk@hodnet-pc.gov.uk

WHY DO WE HAVE A PARISH COUNCIL?

In short, like many things, because of the Victorians !

BRIEF HISTORY

Parish Councils were created by means of the reforms to local government outlined in the 1894 Local Government Act. As the lowest tier of formal government they look after particularly local matters affecting many thousands of small villages/settlements in urban and rural areas across England and Wales.

Of course, local communities have always had some form of organisation to help run local affairs. The history of such endeavours can clearly be traced, in terms of written records, directly to the activities of the local Lord of the Manor, who under authority granted (or usurped!) from the King (via the Feudal System) effectively ran local affairs across their landed estates, and often beyond.

In the medieval period, as Parliament passed more laws and populations grew, life was gradually becoming more complicated and the local Lord and/or his Manorial Court were often not up to the job of dealing effectively with the things that communuites wanted administered or resolved. So, as the power of the feudal system/local lord waned that of the established church, as a natural focus/centre of community activity, grew in its place. Over time in many areas an annual chruch parish meeting would be held at Easter time, when villagers would meet in the local church vestry and debate local affairs/agree necessary actions for the smooth running of their parish. These gatherings became known as ‘Vestry Committees’ and they gradually accrued to themselves powers relinguished by, or not available to, the local lord/manorial court. For example; they could appoint churchwardens, a local constable, a highways surveyor or an overseer of the poor.

From 1557 Vestry Commitees were formally recognised and empowered by Parliament to levy rates for the maintenance of local roads, to collect and look after weapons for local militia and, between 1598 and 1601, take charge of ‘poor relief’ in their areas.

Of these responsibilities poor relief cost the most, and was not a popular topic of public concern – not least as the burden of paying for it fell mainly on a fairly small group of the more prosperous folk living in the parish. Over time these wealthier folk, being the most influential, gradually took over the running of the Vestry Committees and they inevitably became less ‘democratic’ bodies – often acting in secret and being self perpetuating.

By the mid 19th century the cost of poor relief had risen so much, and the provision was so patchy/poor, that Parliament relieved the Vestry Committees of that function. As the Victorians gradually created other bodies to deal with highways, public heath and other civil matters, the need for/powers of the Vestry Commitee system diminished. The 1894 Local Govenment Act created Parish Council’s in their place, and Vestry Committees thereafter restricted themselves to church activities, slowly became the Parochial Church Councils we know today.