Have Your Say on North Somerset Council's Community Governance Review!

What is a Community Governance Review?

This review looks at how your community is represented by town or parish councils. It's about making sure the structure and boundaries of councils work for you. We are undertaking this review in line with the government's recommendation to carry out a community governance review every 10 - 15 years.

What are we consulting on?

During this consultation, we ask you to consider the following:

• Whether existing parish and town council boundaries reflect local boundaries.
• Whether new councils should be created or existing ones merged. 
• Whether the number of councillors in each area is appropriate. 
• How local governance can be made more effective and efficient

What is the timeline for this review?

This consultation is being conducted in two stages:

Stage 1: Gathering your views (February - April 2025)

• We are asking for your initial feedback on what works well and what could be improved.
• You can suggest changes to town and parish councils, such as boundary changes, mergers, or governance improvements. 
• This consultation should take around 10 minutes to complete.

Stage 2: Consulting on Proposals (Summer 2025)

• Based on the feedback from Stage 1, we will develop specific proposals for changes.
• You will have another opportunity to give your views before final decisions are made. 

What can a Community Governance Review change?

What the Community Governance Review CAN change:

• Create, merge, alter, or abolish parishes
• Change electoral arrangements, including the ordinary year of elections, the number of parish councillors and parish & parish ward ward boundaries
• Convert a parish council into a parish meeting
• Group parishes together under a common parish council

What the Community Governance Review CANNOT change:

• Change to the number of district or country councillors 
• Change district or county council ward boundaries
• Change the amount of Council Tax raised by a parish council 
• Remove or replace individual town or parish councillors 
• Create a unitary authority

• All feedback from Stage 1 will be carefully reviewed to identify common themes and key issues.
• We will publish draft recommendations based on our findings, which will be put out to a second round of public consultation (Stage 2). 
• The feedback from Stage 2 will help shape our final recommendations which will be reviewed by councillors at the November Planning and Regulatory Committee. 
• Any changes agreed upon will be implemented following the review process. 

Have your say!

Your voice matters. Whether you think things should stay the same or believe changes are needed, we want to hear from you. Click here to the start the consultation and share your views.

For more information or any enquiries please contact electoral.services@n-somerset.gov.uk