A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain.
In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In Scotland and Wales they are statutory bodies.
Scottish community councils were first created under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, many years after Scottish parish councils were abolished by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929.
Welsh community councils – which may, if they wish, style themselves town councils – are a direct replacement, under the Local Government Act 1972, for the previously existing parish councils and are identical to English parish councils in terms of their powers and the way in which they operate.
England
In England, a parish council can call itself a community council, as an 'alternative style' under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. There are thirty-eight charitable rural community councils with a rural development function, covering areas such as community planning, community buildings support, rural transport schemes and rural affordable housing (exception sites). The rural community councils are linked by the charity ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) and form the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN).
Established in 1947, the National Association of Local Councils is the national body which represents the interests of 10,000 local (parish and town) councils and 100,000 councillors across England. NALC works to support, promote and improve local councils. Local councils is a universal term in England for community, neighbourhood, parish and town councils, which are the first tier of English local government.
The process for establishing a local council requires a signed petition by at least 7.5% of the local electorate (more signatures if there are less than 2,500 electors). The local authority will then undertake a 'governance review' to assess the request and to make a final decision.
In June 2012, Westminster City Council approved the establishment of Queen's Park Community Council as the first civil parish created in London since new legislation was enacted in 2007. The first election of councillors to the Community Council took place in May 2014 at the same time as other local elections. Subsequent elections are held every four years at the same time as elections to the borough council, with a new parish council being elected as part of the 2018 Westminster City Council election.
Scotland
In Scotland community councils have fewer powers than their English or Welsh counterparts. As of July 2012, there were 1,369 community council areas in Scotland, some of which represent several communities within their boundary.
Community councils were introduced in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The duty was placed on the newly established district councils to prepare an establishment scheme to divide their district into community council areas. In 1996 this duty passed to the present area councils.
Scotland's network of parishes was abolished for administrative purposes in 1930, when larger district councils were formed. Unlike Wales, the new CCs created in 1975 were not necessarily based on old parish areas, which no longer fit any modern administrative areas. Several of them are based on former burghs, and have rematriculated the burgh coat of arms and use the title "provost" for their chairman.
The Acts of Parliament governing community councils allow for them to "take any action" they deem appropriate to improve their community. They set out the requirements of each local authority's "scheme for the establishment of Community Councils".
All of Scotland has had community council areas delineated, the numbers and boundaries of which can be altered by the area council. However not all communities have community councils, which in Scotland are statutory and only exist if local people are willing to stand for election. They are officially stated to be "non-party-political and non-sectarian" in their discussions and decision making. Community councils must adopt a constitution stating the name of the community council and dealing with such matters as the frequency of meetings, office bearers, method of election, finance and standing orders.
There have been a number of reviews of the role of community councils in Scotland, generally emphasising their importance to democratic renewal. One important one was the McIntosh Report on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament.