Civil parishes in England

In England, a civil parish is a unit of local government. Civil parishes are the lowest tier of local government, below districts and counties. It is an administrative parish, in comparison to an ecclesiastical (church) parish.

The parish council can decide to call itself a town, village, neighbourhood or community; and in a limited number of cases has city status granted by the monarch. Civil parishes only cover part of England; about 35% of the population.

There are currently no civil parishes in Greater London, and before 2008 their creation was not permitted within a London Borough.^[1]

1. ↑ Guidance on Community Governance Reviews (PDF). London: Department for Communities and Local Government. 2010. ISBN 9781409824213.