b. Relevant sections from 9 to 270

Sections 9 – 17 deal with:

Parish meetings

Grouping and joining parishes

Styles of parishes

Constitution of a parish council

Chair of a parish council – numerous provisions relating to the Chair

Parish councillors – shall be elected, minimum number of

(note that Section 16A is not enacted).

Section 75 – Change of name of parish.

Sections 79 – 92 focus on qualification and disqualification of councillors.  

Also, the power of the principal authority to appoint councillors where a council is not quorate.

Casual vacancies in the office of chair and councillors and power of the Proper Officer to convene a meeting specifically for the purpose of electing a chair where there is a vacancy in this office.

Section 99 – committee meetings must be treated the same as meetings of the full council.

Sections 101 – 109 deal with:

Delegation to committees, sub committees and officers

The types of committees that a council can appoint

Joint committees

Standing Orders for committees

Committees of parish meetings

Conferring the function of a parish council on a parish meeting.

Section 111 – subsidiary powers of parish councils

Sections 112 – 119 deal with engagement of officers and officers generally

Sections 124 – 130 deal with land

• purchase of land

• appropriation of land

• disposal of land and

• general provisions in these aspects

Sections 133 – 135  have mixed provisions:

Provision of community buildings by a parish council

Use of a school room for meetings

Contracts of local authorities – including the power to make standing orders generally but must make standing orders for contracts

Sections 136 and 137 deal with miscellaneous expenditure

Section 138a – deals with prayers at a local authority meeting

Section 139 – deal with gifts to a parish council (including monetary gifts)

Section 140 concerns insurance of councillors and volunteers

Sections 141 to 145 – mixed

• power to give information

• power to encourage visitors

• the provision of entertainment (a broad power well used by parish councils)

Sections 150 – 152 general financial provisions, including the appointment of a RFO at 151

Sections 214 to 215 deals with cemeteries and crematoria, including closed churchyards (NALC Legal Briefing LO1-18)

Sections 222 – 234 is a mixed bag on general provisions, including:

• appearance at legal proceedings

• custody of local authority documents

• deposit of docs with the Proper Officer

• inspection of documents (works alongside FOIA 2000)

Sections 235 – 238 concern Byelaws

Section 243 – computation of time.  Including cannot include a Sunday when computing timings

Section 245 – a parish council can resolve to be a town council or another style

Section 249 – Honorary titles, ie freeman or woman of the parish

Section 270 – Interpretation of the expressions in the Act – quite interesting reading.