There are some 8,350 parish councils in England although London and many other metropolitan areas do not have them. Most parish councils were established in 1894 by an Act of Parliament. This created the civil parish, seperating it from the church after along history of delivering local services such as care for the poor, maintenance of roads and collecting taxes.

Parish councils are a corporate body with a legal existence quite seperate from that of its members. Its decisions are the responsibility of the whole body. They are granted powers by Parliament including the important authority to raise money through taxation (the precept) and a range of powers to spend public money. The legal powers of the parish council are summarised in the PDF file below. Click on the link to view the file.