Have your say: Do you want a parish council?
Residents in the Penn, Mill End, Maple Cross and West Hyde areas of Three Rivers will be asked if they would like to have a local parish council or join an existing one.
Three Rivers District Council has launched a Community Governance Review consultation, which will seek residents’ views on whether these areas that currently don’t have the lowest tier of local representation should have their own parish council(s) or join an existing one, or remain without one.
Joanne Wagstaffe, Chief Executive of Three Rivers District Council, said: “This consultation is to see if there is any appetite from residents living in Penn, Mill End, Maple Cross and West Hyde to have a parish council or if they would rather stay as an unparished area. No decisions have been made yet and there are no assumptions that the current arrangements will change.
The majority of the Three Rivers area has local parish councils that provide a range of very local services, including from running community halls, allotments and play spaces and make representations on local issues such as planning.
The consultation is now open and will be live until Monday 26 January and can be found here.
If a majority of respondents say ‘yes’ to establishing a parish council(s), draft proposals will go out for further public consultation to decide the format of the parish council or joining an existing one. The final decision on the set up will be taken by a Full Council meeting of Three Rivers District Council. Any new parishes or changes to a parish’s existing boundaries could come into effect in April 2027 with the first elections of the new parish council taking place the month after.