Chapter 2: Other Provision Other provision Section 82: Powers of parish councils Background
Parish Councils were first established in England and Wales by the Local Government Act 1894 (‘the 1894 Act’). Amongst other things, that Act provided that certain powers, duties and liabilities of the vestries and churchwardens were transferred to parish councils (section 6), and that certain powers were conferred on parish councils (section 8) in order to establish a separation between the secular role of the parish council and the ecclesiastical role of the vestries and churchwardens. In particular, the powers which were transferred to and conferred on parish councils included powers to hold and manage parish property (section 6(1)(c)(iii)) and the power to execute works in relation to parish property (section 8(1)(i)). In both cases the power transferred or conferred extended only to the secular property of the parish, which was described as "not being property relating to affairs of the church or held for an ecclesiastical purpose".
	These secular and ecclesiastical roles are now carried out in England respectively by parish councils (by virtue of section 179(4)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972) and parochial church councils (by virtue of the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919 and the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1921).