Last December the Council began a Community Governance Review (CGR). This is the legal process through which we consider altering, removing, or creating civil parish councils – also known as town or community councils.

The review began after requests from existing parish councils to review their arrangements, and following the success of the transfer of some services to town and parish councils. Across Swindon borough, we currently have 15 parish councils serving just over 40 per cent of households.

The first stage of the CGR took place between December and March, inviting public submissions. A total of 258 responses were received, a high proportion of which expressed concern about creating new parish councils, while others said they did not have enough information to have a view. Other responses indicated that a consultative poll should take place before a decision is made. But the council also received further feedback from engagement events that residents wanted to shape any future proposals, particularly in relation to the forming of new parish boundaries.

Final recommendations will not be presented to council until November. In the meantime we are holding public meetings from next week to help residents consider the CGR and its possible outcomes against the challenging financial context we face.

Last Thursday my cabinet colleagues and I agreed that through this next stage of the process, we want to explore giving local people more power over local services by considering the potential of creating parish councils covering the entire borough. These could possibly provide residents with more direct control over services such as street cleaning, litter and dog waste bin empting and grass cutting.

By securing a small amount of extra income from council tax payers through a precept, parishes could prioritise locally, deliver locally, and protect services for the future.

I recognise that residents need more information to understand how this might work in practice. That’s why I encourage people to attend one of the public meetings beginning next week to hear more and ask questions:

June 27, 7pm, Park South Community Centre; June 28 , 7pm, Lawn Primary School; June 29, 7pm, Broadgreen Community Centre; July 5, 6pm, West Swindon Library; July 6, 7pm, Lethbridge School; July 11, 7pm, Liden Library; July 18, 7pm, Pinetrees Community Centre; and July 20, 7pm, Swindon Primary School.

Information will also be available on the council’s website this week, including maps showing illustrative outline parish boundaries.