About community governance reviews

What is a community governance review?

Principal councils (district councils or unitary councils) have the power to carry out community governance reviews and put in place or make changes to local community (parish) governance arrangements.

However, we retain the responsibility for making any related alterations to district ward or county division boundaries following a parish boundary change. Community governance reviews replace the parish reviews that principal authorities undertook under the Local Government and Rating Act 1997.

A review can consider a number of issues, including:

• whether to create a new parish
• whether to alter the boundary of an existing parish
• whether to group a number of parishes together in a grouped parish council

Local people can petition a principal council to undertake a community governance review. A principal council must undertake a review if the relevant conditions in relation to the petition are met.

The principal authority is responsible for setting the terms of reference of any review and must also undertake consultation when considering what changes to make.

Our powers

The Commission has responsibility for changing the ward or division boundaries following a community governance review. These are called 'consequential changes'. Proposals for consequential changes should be consulted on as part of a review and the recommendation made to the Commission. The Commission is then responsible for making the changes to the wards or divisions.

Guidance

Local authorities conducting, or considering conducting, a community governance review should refer to our joint guidance with the Department for Communities and Local Government.

• Community review guidance (PDF)

The legislative framework is found in Chapter 4 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (PDF)

Parish electoral arrangements and Electoral Changes Orders and Order maps 

An 'Order' is a legal document that brings into force change to, in this case, parish electoral arrangements. Orders made by us, or our predecessor the Boundary Committee for England, to implement parish petitions and parish reviews under the Local Government and Rating Act 1997, and any maps referred to in those Orders, are listed below. Each Order and Order map is in PDF format.

These were the reviews conducted under old legislation (before 2008). Local authorities are now responsible for implementing electoral arrangements.

• The Aylesbury Vale (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF)[H2] 
• The Basildon (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Bedford (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF) - this Order refers to Sheet1 (PDF), Sheet2 (PDF) and Sheet3 (PDF) of a map
• The Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2008 (PDF) - this order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Bradford (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006 (PDF)- this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Bradford (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)- this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Bradford (Electoral Changes) Order 2008 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Bromsgrove (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Burnley (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Castle Point (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Chiltern (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007(PDF) - this Order refers to Sheet1 (PDF) and Sheet2 (PDF) of a map
• The Cotswold (Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Derwentside (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2008 (PDF)
• The East Lindsey (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006 (PDF)
• The Halton (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2008 (PDF)
• The Hertsmere (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2008 (PDF)
• The Hinckley and Bosworth (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)- this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Isle of Wight (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006 (PDF)
• The Maidstone (Electoral Changes) Order 2008 (PDF)
• The Melton (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Newark and Sherwood (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2008 (PDF)
• The North Devon (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order2007 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map(PDF)
• The Oxford (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2008 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map(PDF)
• The Peterborough (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Preston (Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map(PDF)
• The Rugby (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007(PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Sevenoaks (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2008 (PDF)
• The South Bucks (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The South Cambridgeshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2008 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The South Norfolk (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The St Albans (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007(PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Stockton-on-Tees (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF) -this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Stratford-on-Avon (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2008 (PDF) -this Order refers to Sheet 1 (PDF), Sheet 2(PDF) , Sheet 3 (PDF), Sheet 4 (PDF) , Sheet 5 (PDF), Sheet 6 (PDF) and Sheet 7(PDF) of a map
• The Stroud (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2008 (PDF) - this Order refers to Sheet 1(PDF) and Sheet2 (PDF) of a map
• The Tandridge (Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Tewkesbury (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2008 (PDF) - this Order refers to Sheet 1 (PDF) , Sheet 2 (PDF), Sheet 3 (PDF) , Sheet 4 (PDF), Sheet 5 (PDF) and Sheet 6 (PDF)
• The Test Valley (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Torbay (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Uttlesford (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Uttlesford (Electoral Changes) Order 2008 (PDF)
• The Warwick (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Waverley (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Wealden (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007(PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The Wear Valley (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The West Lancashire (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF) - this Order refers to a map (PDF)
• The West Lindsey (Electoral Changes) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Wycombe (Parish Electoral Arrangements) Order 2007 (PDF)
• The Tewkesbury (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The Stratford-on-Avon (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The Berwick-upon-Tweed (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The Aylesbury Vale (Parish Electoral Arrangements and Electoral Changes) (Amendment) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The North Norfolk (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The Wellingborough (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The Pendle (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The Amber Valley (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The Mid Devon (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The East Devon (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The Huntingdonshire (Related Alterations) Order 2010 (PDF)
• The Kettering (Related Alterations) Order 2009 (PDF)
• The Wellingborough (Related Alterations) (Amendment) Order 2010 (PDF)

Visit the Adobe website if you need technical assistance on using PDF readers to view these maps.