What a parish council can do
A parish council can, if it decides to do so, provide a number of services. These are summarised in the table below.
| Service or function | What can a parish council do? |
|---|---|
| Allotments | Provide allotments |
| Baths and washhouses | Provide public baths and washhouses |
| Burial grounds, cemeteries and crematoria | Acquire, maintain and provide burial grounds, cemeteries and crematoria. Maintain monuments and memorials and contribute towards the expenses of cemeteries |
| Bus shelters | Provide and maintain bus shelters |
| Bye Laws | Make bye-laws for pleasure grounds, cycle parks, baths and washhouses, open spaces, burial grounds, mortuaries and post-mortem rooms |
| Charities | Receive accounts of parochial charities |
| Clocks | Provide public clocks |
| Commons and common pastures | Enclose, regulate and manage commons and provide common pasture |
| Conference facilities | Provide and encourage the use of conference facilities |
| Communiy centres | Provide and equip buildings for use by athletic, social or educational clubs |
| Crime prevention | Spend money on various crime prevention measures |
| Drainage | Deal with ponds and ditches |
| Education | Appoint school governors |
| Entertainment and the arts | Provide entertainment and support for the arts |
| Gifts | Accept gifts |
| Highways | Repair and maintain public footpaths and bridle-ways. Light roads and public places. Provide litter bins, parking places for vehicles, bicycles and motor-cycles, roadside seats and shelters, bus shelters, traffic signs and other notices. Plant trees and maintain roadside verges. |
| Investments | Participate in collective investment schemes |
| Land | Acquire, appropriate, dispose of and accept gifts of land |
| Litter | Provide litter bins |
| Lotteries | Promote lotteries |
| Mortuaries and post mortem rooms | Provide mortuaries and post mortem rooms |
| Nuisances | Deal with offensive ditches |
| Open spaces | Acquire and maintain land used for open spaces |
| Parish property and documents | Make decisions on the custody of parish of parish property and documents |
| Public conveniences | Provide public conveniences |
| Recreation | Acquire land for and provide recreation grounds, public walks, pleasure grounds and manage and control them. Provide gymnasiums, playing fields, holiday camps and boating pools. |
| Town and country planning | Be notified of planning applications in the parish and submit comments on them to the district council. |
| Tourism | Contribute to organisations encouraging tourism |
| Traffic calming | Contribute financially to traffic calming schemes |
| Transport | Spend money on community transport schemes |
| War memorials | Maintain, repair, protect and adapt war memorials |
| Water supply | Provide facilities for obtaining and utilising water from wells, springs or streams |