ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the role of parish councils generally but particular attention will be paid to their involvement in land use planning. The parish unit derives from early church administration but the non-ecclesiastical, administrative functions of the parish emerged around the early seventeenth century and over a long period of time the parish gradually took on more functions. Parish government is the one level of local government which has a realistic choice as to whether it attempts to carry out all its business through its full council or whether it delegates responsibility and workload to a number of specific committees. The most frequently occurring committees were those which were concerned with parish council property. There are two main ways in which parish council electoral interest may be monitored: by percentage turnout of the electorate, and by the number of candidates seeking office.
