What is a Town Council?

In Cheshire there are three kinds of Council.  One county council, six district councils and scores of parish councils. 

They each have their own functions and separate services, which can sometimes cause confusion.  For example Cheshire County Council is responsible for disposal of waste, so it regulates the tips.  But the district councils are responsible for collection of waste, so they run the wheelie bin service and (in effect) pay the county council to use the tips.

In this area, Crewe and Nantwich is the district council – but just to confuse things a bit more, it is entitled to be called a ‘borough’.  So it is usually referred to as Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council.

The County Council’s main responsibilities are education, social services, roads and libraries.

The Borough Council’s main responsibilities are leisure centres and swimming pools, waste collection, planning and public health.  It also collects council tax.

Parish councils can choose to provide allotments, playing fields, street furniture, some street lighting and community halls.  In the main towns, a parish council is entitled to call itself a Town Council – and that is what has happened in Nantwich. 

So three councils are responsible for what happens in Nantwich; the County, the Borough and the Town.  But they each have their own functions and separate services.  Which I think is where we came in...

But that is not the whole story, because at the beginning of 2008, parliament decided that the two new local authorities should be established in Cheshire - namely Cheshire East and Cheshire West.

These authorities will do everything the present County Council and Borough Councils do now.  They will begin operating in April 2009.  The old authorities (Cheshire and the six District Councils) will be abolished on that date.  All their powers and property will pass to the two new Councils.

Nantwich will be in Cheshire East along with Congleton and Macclesfield (see more about this on Cheshire County Council web site www.cheshire.gov.uk ).  The Town Council will be unchanged although some people think that some more powers or facilities may be given to some town and parish councils. 

We shall see...