FAQs

A Community Governance Review enables a principal council, such as BCP Council, to review, put in place or make changes to local council arrangements; for example, by creating, merging, abolishing or changing parish or town council boundaries.

A Community Governance Review is a legal process that gives residents and organisations an opportunity to share their views on the most suitable ways of representing the people at a community level.

The council believes that local councils can play an important role in community empowerment at a local level and wants to ensure that parish governance within the area continues to be robust, representative and is able to meet new challenges. We also want to ensure there is clarity and transparency in the areas that local councils represent and that the electoral arrangements of parishes are appropriate, equal and easy to understand for the public and key stakeholders.

Local councils includes all styles of councils including Town, Parish, Community, Neighbourhood and Village councils. All have the same responsibilities and functions.

A Community Governance Review can make a number of changes to the way local councils are governed when there is clear evidence these changes would be an improvement, including:

• Creating, merging, altering or abolishing parishes
• The naming of parishes and the style of new parishes
• The electoral arrangements for parishes (e.g., the ordinary year of election; council size, the number of councillors to be elected to the council, and parish warding);
• Grouping parishes under a common council or de-grouping parishes.

The council needs to ensure that community governance in the BCP area will:

• Reflect the identities and interests of the community in that area; and
• Be effective and convenient.

This review is taking place following a decision made at Full Council on 15 October(External link) 2024. Government guidance advises that a review should be carried out every 10 to 15 years and there has been no full review of Bournemouth and Poole within this period. There was one carried out in Christchurch in 2017-18.

The council believes that local councils (including parish, town, community, neighbourhood and village councils) can play an important role in community empowerment at a local level and wants to ensure that parish governance within the area continues to be robust, representative and is able to meet new challenges. We also want to ensure there is clarity and transparency in the areas that local councils represent and that the electoral arrangements of parishes are appropriate, equal and easy to understand for the public and key stakeholders.

A paper copy of the survey, information document and all the relevant maps can be downloaded on the right-hand side of this page.

You can also collect paper versions  from any of BCP Council’s libraries. A full list of BCP libraries can be found here(External link).

Please refer to the Polling District and Ward Maps:
(External link)

• Polling districts and wards(External link) - Please make sure you select 'Current Polling Districts' in the top left corner. 
• Parish and parish wards(External link)

All the existing polling districts are listed here.

You can also get paper versions of the maps on request at any of BCP Council’s libraries. 

In the context of a Community Governance Review, the term “coterminous” means that the parishes, parish wards, BCP wards or parliamentary constituencies for a given area share the same boundary.  

‘Local councils’ is the collective name for all councils at the lower-tier of local government. There are five styles of local council, these being:

1. Town councils
2. Parish councils
3. Community councils
4. Neighbourhood councils
5. Village councils.

They are separate elected bodies made up of local people representing the interests of their community. They can be the voice of the local community and work with other tiers of government and external organisations to co-ordinate and deliver services and work to improve the quality of life in the area.

No, they all have the same statutory powers and can provide the same services. The choice of style enables a council to be described in a way that best reflects the area. The only difference between all styles is that a town council will usually have a mayor.

Any changes to existing parish or town council arrangements will come into force on the same day as the next scheduled normal parish and town council elections in May 2027. However, if any new local councils are established, these will most likely be established in April 2026 with elections held in May 2026.

Local councils are primarily funded through a sum of money called a ‘precept’ – this is a separate charge which is added to, and collected along with, your existing Council Tax. The local council sets its own precept depending on what services and facilities are needed by the local community.

Potentially yes. However, each parish, town or community council determines what services, if any, it wishes to deliver, and sets its own budget requirements. After deducting any other income (e.g., grants, fees and charges), the council will calculate the precept requirement. The precept requirement is used to calculate the council tax charge each year.

Most local councils do not pay allowances to councillors but may reimburse appropriate expenses incurred. Although rare, councillor allowances may be paid but would require approval by the relevant local council following a review undertaken by an independent remuneration panel.

This is where a number of parishes come together under a common council, where electors of each parish elect a designated number of councillors to the common council. It can be an effective way of ensuring small parishes are more empowered (that might otherwise be unworkable as separate units) whilst maintaining their separate community identity.

In the context of a Community Governance Review, "effective" means that the governance arrangements deliver local services efficiently and are responsive to community needs, while "convenient" means that the arrangements are easy for residents to access and understand.

An elector is a person who has the right to vote in an election. To vote in an election, the elector must be included on the electoral register. If you are not registered to vote, visit www.gov.uk/register-to-vote(External link).

Charter Trustees are established to ensure the continuation of a town or city's charter after a district with borough or city status is abolished. The primary purpose of Charter Trustees is to ensure the preservation of civic, historic, and ceremonial traditions until a civil parish council or town council is established. Charter Trustees for Bournemouth and Poole were established in 2019.

A historic charter is a formal document, typically issued by a monarch or sovereign power, that grants specific rights, privileges, or powers to an individual, corporation, city, or other entity, outlining the conditions under which they are organised and operate.

Several historic charters were granted to both Bournemouth and Poole and these are currently maintained by the respective Charter Trustees. If the proposed town councils are established, the historic charters and civic regalia will be transferred to the respective town council to ensure continuity.

A contested election is where the number of persons nominated for election exceeds the number of seats available to be filled. If contested, electors are invited to vote at the polling station or by postal vote, the votes counted and the result declared. If the number of persons nominated is equal to or below the number of seats available to be filled, then the nominated candidates are declared as being elected uncontested.

It is an important democratic principle of UK politics that each person’s vote should be of equal weight when it comes to elected representation, and where possible we seek to draw boundaries so that each councillor represents, roughly, the same number of electors.

If one ward is significantly over-represented by councillors, the residents of that ward (and their councillors) could be perceived as having more influence than others on the council.

Boundaries for wards are therefore drawn to comply with this principle and kept under review and if significant changes occur then a review of boundaries may be triggered.