Written question asked by Richard Taylor (Independent (affiliation)) on Tuesday, 2 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 4 February 2010. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Unitary Councils

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers he has to designate previously parished and unparished areas as mixed Charter Trustee areas consequent on the creation of a unitary authority; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: The Secretary of State may, by order under section 7 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, establish Charter Trustees for those local authority areas that are to be abolished, and where no suitable local government body such as a parish council exists, in order to preserve historic property, privileges rights and traditions presently enjoyed by local residents in those areas.In some places, although parishes exist in the area of the outgoing council, there is no obvious parish candidate to preserve the traditions since those parishes are not closely related to the (unparished) city centre. In such cases, Charter Trustees have been established for the whole of the previous city council area. However, once a parish is created for the core city area, the arrangements protected by Charter Trustees would automatically transfer to that body and the Charter Trustees would be disbanded under the Local Government (Parishes and Parish Councils) (England) Regulations 2008.

Secondary information