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Parish Council

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In 1965, the Royal Commission on Local Government (Redcliffe-Maude Commission) recommended that local councils should be empowered to do what they pleased for the benefit of their people. As a result, the 1972 Local Government Act removed many restrictions on the activities of Parish Councils.

For example, before the Act, money could not be saved from one year to the next so as to fund a major project, something which is now possible and avoids having a massive Council Tax for any year in which a major project is attempted.

Subsequent legislation has added to our powers and although Silchester Parish Council has a wide range of powers that it can exercise, not all are appropriate to a Parish of our size. Listed below are powers currently exercised, along with some clarifying details where appropriate.

Function	Statutory Power and Duty	Details
Burial grounds and cemeteries	Power to acquire and maintain Power to provide Power to agree to maintain monuments and memorials Power to contribute towards expenses at cemeteries
Bus shelters	Power to provide and maintain shelters	The parish owns and maintains shelters at outside the Calleva Arms public house and opposite the Methodist chapel on Pamber Road
Bye Laws	Open spaces and burial grounds	The Council in cooperation with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has implemented bye laws to prohibit the riding of bicycles or motor cycles or the driving of vehicles on Silchester Common. Other bye laws also exist regarding the behaviour of persons using the Common and other matters. View a full list of Bye Laws for Silchester by clicking here
Charities	Duty to receive accounts of parochial charities.
Clocks	Power to provide public clocks
Community Centres	Power to provide and equip buildings for use of clubs having athletic, social or educational objectives	The parish contributes to the maintenance and operation of the village hall
Crime prevention	Power to spend money on various crime prevention measures
Drainage	Power to deal with ponds and ditches	The parish maintains the sides and margins of Flexditch pond and Church pond
Education	Right to appoint school governors	The parish appoints governors to Silchester CofE Primary School Primary school
Entertainment and the arts	Provision of entertainment and support of the arts
Highways	Power to repair and maintain public footpaths and bridleways Power to light roads and public places Power to provide parking places for vehicles, bicycles and motor-cycles Power to enter into agreement as to dedication and widening Power to provide roadside seats and shelters Consent of parish council required for ending maintenance of highway at public expense, or for stopping up or diversion of highway Power to complain to district council as to protection of rights of way and roadside wastes Power to provide traffic signs and other notices Power to plant trees etc. and maintain roadside verges	The parish carries out small scale repairs. etc to footpaths, bridges, fences et al The Council provides and maintains a number of seats within the parish
Land and open spaces	Power to acquire by agreement, to appropriate, to dispose of	The parish owns or leases four areas of land – recreation ground, Pocket Park, Bishop’s Meadow and Piper’s Field The parish leases Church Pond alongside St Mary’s Church and Flexditch, and owns Silchester Common (an area of 56 hectares)
Litter	Provision of receptacle	The Parish Council has appointed a litter warden for the parish
Nuisances	Power to deal with offensive ditches	The council maintains ditches for the parish
Parish property and documents	Power to direct as to their custody	The Clerk is responsible for the safe and effective storage and archiving of public records from the parish. Archived documents are lodged at Hampshire County Council offices in Winchester
Public buildings and village halls	Power to provide buildings for offices and for public meetings and assemblies	The parish supports the Village Hall, located on Little London road. The Village hall is owned and managed by the Village Hall Trustees
Public conveniences	Power to provide
Recreation	Power to acquire land for or to provide recreation grounds, public walks, pleasure grounds and open spaces and to control and manage them Power to provide playing fields	The parish owns Silchester Common which includes the playing fields area opposite the Calleva Arms public house. The parish owns the sports pavilion alongside the playing fields
Town and country planning	Right to be notified of planning applications	The Parish Council reviews and is able to comment on all planning applications affecting the parish
Tourism	Power to contribute to organisations encouraging
Traffic calming	Powers to contribute financially to traffic calming schemes	The parish is planning to contribute to the scheme proposed for the junction of Little London Road and Pamber Road
Transport	Powers to spend money on community transport schemes
War Memorials	Power to maintain, repair, protect and adapt war memorials	The parish owns and maintains the War Memorial opposite the playing fields on Little London Road

In addition to all these things, a Parish Council can do anything, provided it is for the general benefit of the community and that the expenditure in any one year does not exceed £3.50 per local government elector in that particular Parish or community. However, most things that the Parish Council might wish or hope to do could be covered by other legislation where the only limit imposed is that of the reluctance of parishioners to pay.

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