Alistair Burt (Shadow Minister (Communities and Local Government), Communities and Local Government; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)

It is welcome that powers to make decisions about new parishes, and decisions on their creation, have been devolved from the Secretary of State to principal authorities. Parish councils welcome that measure, and it has also been welcomed by the parish councils’ associations. However, there is one nagging doubt in the back of my mind.

To a certain extent, the fact that such matters used to be handled outside the local authority by the Secretary of State provided some form of third-party scrutiny and review, so local battles were not fought and decided locally. I am concerned about whether there is any appeal process. If a personality dispute were preoccupying a local area where a local parish had been awkward or difficult and consistently at odds with a principal council, perhaps because it represented two different parts of a local authority area, whether urban or rural, the local council may decide, under the terms of clause 63, that that was an ideal opportunity to conduct a community governance review. The result of that review may be—surprise, surprise—that the difficult parish council would be scheduled for termination. What power of appeal is possible?

Such matters used, of course, to go to the Secretary of State, thereby avoiding internecine strife, which is part of British public life. We have all had experience of that. The nods and smiles from Committee members tell me that I am mining a rich seam. We are all aware of this sort of thing. [Interruption.] Apart from Lichfield, where people handle such matters marvellously well. Certainly, nobody from Bedfordshire will take me up on this issue and complain.

When such matters arise, to a certain extent the Department and the Secretary of State can act as a stop-gap. What security is there in the Bill to prevent a most unfortunate decision from being taken if somebody tries to pursue a local agenda and a parish council is in the firing line? Is there any form of appeal?  How can we ensure that a parish council will not be targeted unfairly? I should be grateful if the Under-Secretary could help me on that point.

Robert Syms (Shadow Minister (Local Government), Communities and Local Government; Poole, Conservative)

I notice that subsection (4)(b) provides for:

“if the parish has a council: recommendations as to whether or not the parish should continue to have a council.”

Is it possible under a parish review for a principal district or borough to abolish all the parish councils in its area?

Angela Smith (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Basildon, Labour)

I thank the hon. Gentlemen for their comments. The clause allows local authorities to review existing parishes, and they could recommend the abolition or alteration of existing parishes following that review. There is some political debate on this. Currently Portsmouth is trying to abolish Southsea town council, which is controlled by the Conservatives, and Portsmouth town council, which is controlled by the Liberal Democrats. [ Interruption. ] I do not want to intrude on the private grief of Opposition Members. Perhaps they will want to talk about it later.

The Bill is about trust and devolution—it is about local authorities making decisions. If the Secretary of State does not have the powers to call in decisions or there is no appeal to the Secretary of State, it is a matter for local authorities to decide. I am a bit surprised by the hon. Gentlemen’s reluctance to accept the devolutionary thrust of the Bill. Local authorities will have to consult. The Government will set out a framework that will ensure that local people are consulted, that any representations are taken into account and that the outcome of the review must be open and transparent. There will be statutory guidance for local authorities carrying out reviews.

Local authorities will have to base their decisions on certain criteria. They will have to take into account the identities of local communities and community cohesion across the proposed area—the point raised by the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst. When considering whether to create or to abolish a parish council they will also have to take into account the body’s ability to provide effective and good local governance. The right of appeal in such matters would be the legal right to have a judicial review.

Alistair Burt (Shadow Minister (Communities and Local Government), Communities and Local Government; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)

I am not complaining about the devolutionary power in the Bill. I accept that. As I said at the beginning of my remarks on the clause, the National Association of Local Councils has welcomed the measure and so do people in most parishes, because it offers more local control of their affairs. However, the sticking point is when a problem arises. All these things look great when everyone agrees with everyone else, and taking account of the needs of the locality and so on sounds great—until there are two opposing factions and the rubber hits the road. It is all very well to have appeal available through judicial review, but we all know the problems of judicial review. It is enormously expensive and tremendously uncertain. No parish council will quickly commit its resources to such a thing.

In a very difficult situation where a council has taken a political decision to remove a parish council, there would be no redress for a parish caught up in that sort of squeeze except through judicial review. That is what the Under-Secretary has said, but is she really content that that is safe and sure? Would it not now be better—for disputed cases, not those in which there is agreement—to have some other power of appeal that is less expensive and would safeguard the position of a parish council under threat?

Angela Smith (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Basildon, Labour)

I understand the point that the hon. Gentleman is making, but the decision would not be made unilaterally. Councils will go through a due process as laid out in statutory guidance and in legislation, and the decision will be open and transparent. Decisions taken by a local council or by Parliament itself do not always meet with absolute agreement—in the real world, that does not happen—but there is always the backstop of judicial review. We should not build in so many checks and balances that principal authorities cannot take decisions themselves.

The hon. Member for Poole asked if it would be possible to abolish all parish councils after the review. Technically it would be, if the review procedures had been gone through and the principal authority had regard to all relevant considerations, such as committee identity and cohesion. The principal authority could do that, but it would have to consider whether the action was reasonable. The Electoral Commission would also be involved.

I think that the system contains enough checks and balances and that we do not need further bureaucracy. We must trust principal authorities to behave reasonably, to consult local people and to be open and transparent in their decision making.