Community governance review consultation

A community governance review is a process to provide an opportunity to review and make changes to governance arrangements for town and parish councils and parish areas. This is to ensure they continue to reflect local identities and facilitate effective and convenient local government.

A community governance review can take place for the whole or part of the borough to consider one or more of the following:

• Creating, merging, altering or abolishing parishes
• The naming of parishes and the style of new parishes
• The electoral arrangements for parish including:
  • The ordinary year of election
  • Council size
  • The number of councillors to be elected to the council
  • The warding (if any) of the parish
• Grouping parishes under a common parish council or de-grouping parishes.

Community governance reviews are undertaken in accordance with the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

Why was the council undertaking the review?

The council believes that parish and town councils play an important role in community empowerment and wants to ensure that parish governance in our borough continue to be robust, representative, and able to meet the challenges that lie before it. Furthermore, it wants to ensure there is clarity and transparency to the area that parish councils represent and the electoral arrangements of parishes (warding arrangements and allocations of councillors) are appropriate, equitable and understood by their electorate.

The council undertook a review at this time because a period of 10 years had elapsed since the last review was carried out in 2012. This is in line with government guidance that it is good practice to conduct a review every 10 to 15 years,

Which areas were under review?

The whole of the Hinckley and Bosworth area was included in the Community Governance Review. The review did not automatically mean there would be changes, but it would see if there was a case for change. The council was not seeking a particular solution, but wished to get the views of residents and assess whether any changes were required. Changes would be made if they were necessary to reflect the identity and interests of local communities and ensure effective and convenient local governance.

Timetable for the review:

• Commencement of review - terms of reference published: 23 February 2022
• Initial consultation stage: 23 February 2022 to 18 May 2022
• Draft recommendations prepared: May to June 2022
• Draft recommendations published: 13 July 2022 (following approval by Council)
• Consultation on draft recommendations: 13 July to 7 September 2022
• Final recommendations prepared: September to October 2022
• Final recommendations considered by Council: 1 November 2022

What happened

The terms of reference for the review were prepared and presented to Council on 22 February 2022. The terms of reference were published, and the initial consultation stage commenced on 23 February 2022.

Read the terms of reference:

• Terms of reference (PDF)
• Terms of reference: Annexe 1 - Electoral forecasts (PDF)

The initial consultation period closed on 18 May 2022.

The Community Governance Review Working Group met to consider the responses received during the initial consultation stage and made draft recommendations in late May. The draft recommendations was presented to Council on 12 July 2022.

You were able to read the full draft recommendations and have your say on the draft recommendations from 13 July 2022.

The consultation took place for a period of eight weeks from 13 July 2022.

Further information:

• Outcomes of the review

Last updated: 21/08/2023 10:51