Local government

Local government

The administration of our local affairs dates back to the village meetings of early times and it is barely a hundred years since the last of them, the vestry meetings, were replaced by elected councils.

Their formation, particularly the parish council, has now become an integral part of our life yet can be traced back over the centuries through the development of our villages in England from Saxon and Norman times.

One thousand years ago, communications were poor and central government often weak and so there was little national control. As a result, the Lord of the Manor usually ruled the villages. Eventually, he was joined by the parish priest and sometimes the schoolmaster and between them they established a kind of ruling clique. This was a comparatively simple task because in small villages they were likely to be the only people who could read and write. In effect these leaders in the community became the first parish councillors, in deed if not in name.

By the early 17th century, vestry meetings were being held in the parish church after Sunday morning service, dealing with church affairs as well as looking after the old, the poor and the infirm, appointing church wardens, sextons and even village constables. Their authority became so complete that it was quite natural for legislators to give them the responsibility of levying the poor rate. These were the first effective local taxes. Everyone in the parish was entitled to attend vestry meetings but in practice, the work fell to a few individuals, rather like parish councils of today.

Following the Poor Law Act of 1601, the payment of rates to maintain the destitute became compulsory. Poor rates were approved by the justices and any complaints about unfair assessments were heard at the Quarter Sessions. From the mid-17th century, parishes were also able to impose a levy for repairs to the parish roads. Ratepayers also had to pay a county levy, which was decided by the justices at Quarter Session, and collected locally by the constable. These included payments for the hospitals and the gaols (from 1700) while any other monies needed for improvements to the district, such as building a road or a canal or enclosing land, could be levied once a local Act of Parliament had been passed. In the 19th century, various Acts of Parliament were enacted to enable rates to be imposed for works which would benefit the community, without first taking the matter through Parliament, for example the Museum Act of 1845, the Baths and Wash-houses Act (1846-47), the Public Libraries Acts (1850 and 1855) and the Recreation Grounds Act (1859). District councils were formed in 1894, and were given the authority to collect rates from householders in their jurisdiction. An Act of Parliament of 1744 gave residents the right to inspect the accounts.

The earliest rate assessments were written into the account books kept by churchwardens and parish overseers. They usually listed the householder's name and the amount payable for his property. Later, printed books were used, listing the houses street by street, the value of the property, the householder's name and the amount assessed.

Although the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act removed from parish vestries the responsibility for poor relief and handed it to Poor Law Unions, parishes became responsible for administering local charities. As a consequence of the 18th century Enclosure Acts, they also took over the management of commons.

The squire, the parson and sometimes the schoolmaster, were still the leaders in the village in the late 19th century but popular education was spreading and more people wanted a say in managing local affairs and this was achieved through the 1894 Local Government Act, championed in Parliament by the Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, and although it met a great deal of opposition, with over 800 amendments moved during its passage through the house, the act became law and parish councils were formed. It created institutions having civil origins, status and affiliations and transferred the civil functions of the older authorities to the new institutions. By this Act, the church and state at parish level were completely separated.

See box at end for Vestry meetings

Since the 1894 Act, the vestry still meets in every parish in every county at least once a year for the election of churchwardens so perpetuating the English tradition that started 600 years ago. But at the same time, it put the administration of our affairs at local level in the hands of councils with elected councillors to run them. The Act also enabled parish councils to receive their income from rates levied on farmland. However, this was a time of agricultural depression and the money raised was so low that this system was soon abandoned and householders were then rated as an alternative. This form of taxation had never been experienced before and this lead to some opposition to the parish councils. It was not until after the First World War of 1914-18 that central government began to give serious responsibilities to parish councils, the earliest among them being the provision of allotments and playing fields.

After the Second World War of 1939-45, the National Association of Parish Councils was formed and by 1952 half of all parishes in the country were members. The association became a national force and raised the profile and consequently the activity of parish councils to that we know today. In Bourne, our own parish council, formed in 1974, has, because of its historical significance, been given special status as a town council with the ability to elect its own mayor although this privilege is purely decorative and it has no more authority than any other parish council. What powers it did have, however, have been seriously eroded over the years and effective control of our local affairs now rests firmly with the upper tiers of local government, the district and county councils.

In Bourne, the introduction of local councils in 1894 meant an end to the vestry meetings and the formation of a rural council to administer the country areas and a parish council for the town but the latter lasted only five years because during that time, the authority applied for urbanisation on the grounds of its population and size, and this was granted by Kesteven County Council in May 1898 and came into force the following year. The newly elected bodies subsequently met first at the Corn Exchange and then the Town Hall, although Wake House was the venue for a period and the Red Hall occasionally.

The rural and urban councils for Bourne were swallowed up by the newly constituted South Kesteven District Council in 1974 as part of yet another re-organisation and so the administration of our affairs at local level now rests with a three tier system, each authority with its own elected councillors, although many belong to two and even all three, a massive and unwieldy combination of bureaucratic control in the hands of an army of local councillors and salaried officials.

Lincolnshire County Council is in overall control of roads, schools and libraries, the police and fire brigade. The spending budget is currently £527 million (2003-4) and the council, based in Lincoln, has 77 elected members, all of whom are paid through a system of allowances, and has a workforce of more than 12,000 people making it the biggest employer in the county.

South Kesteven District Council is responsible for housing, waste, leisure and recreation, land use and planning applications. The spending budget is currently £50 million (2002-03) and the council, based in Grantham, has 58 elected members, all of whom are paid through a system of allowances, and employs more than 600 people (October 2002).

Bourne Town Council has limited powers, confined to the Christmas lights, the town cemetery, street names and similar parochial issues, but the council does have an input into all planning matters affecting the town and its councillors are usually the first to be approached by anyone with a problem or a complaint. The spending budget is currently £100,000. The council, which meets in the Town Hall, has 15 elected councillors, none of whom are paid, and employs five people.

The county and district councils are financed by substantial grants from central government (currently around 65%) but all depend for their main income on council tax levied on domestic properties (currently around 35%) which is banded at eight levels according to size and can therefore be as low as £630 or as high as £1,870 (2002-03 figures). The average is therefore Band D, £935, on which the councils make their calculations for the ensuing year. This is expected to rise by around 10% in the coming year 2003-04.

VESTRY MEETINGS

The Vestry Meeting had complete control over the town in all of its activities, both church and civil, far more than any of the individual local authorities today that cover county, district and parish, embracing all spheres of public life from the levying and collecting of taxes to the welfare of the individual.

We are able to understand the extent of this power by reading the reports of the meetings printed by the local newspapers at the time and such an account which appeared in the Stamford Mercury on Friday 5^th April 1861 is a perfect example because it was also the annual meeting at which officials were appointed and a review of the year was presented to members and illustrates its many duties. I have made minor changes to the report to clarify names and places and to make it more easily accessible to the modern reader and have added explanatory notes where necessary but it remains basically as it originally appeared:

The annual Easter meeting was held [in the church] on Monday last, the Rev Joseph Dodsworth, Vicar of Bourne, in the chair. The first business was the appointment of churchwardens. The vicar, in reappointing Mr Thomas T Mawby, his warden, thanked him for the valuable assistance which he had rendered him. There appeared to be some difficulty in the collection of the voluntary instead of the church rate [the rating system at this time was under government review] and apparently they were not much nearer a settlement of the question by Parliament than they were some years ago.

Mr John Leonard Bell [a solicitor, of West Street], who was complimented upon the courteous and efficient manner in which he had discharged the duties of the office of churchwarden during the past year, was unanimously re-appointed parish warden for the ensuing year.

Officers of the Interior Drainage: Mr John Foster and Mr Joseph Grummitt were re-elected for the north fen and Mr Charles Phillips and Mr George Brudenell were also re-appointed for the south fen.

Collectors of the Black Sluice Drainage Rate: Mr William Bray and Mr Hugh Hobson were re-appointed.

Pinders [an officer who impounded stray beasts]: William Crampton, Henry Parker, William Dames senior, Robert Lattimore and John Scotney were re-appointed and John Laxton was appointed an additional pinder for the hamlet of Dyke.

Assessors: The churchwardens and overseers, and Messrs Henry Bott, Charles Spreckley, Robert Mason Mills, Henry Osborn and William Wherry, were appointed a committee to revalue new buildings and improvements for the purpose of parochial rateability.

Accounts: The annual accounts of the officer of interior drainage for the north and south fens were examined and passed. The expenditure in the south fen amounted to £119 18s. 11½d. and the receipts, including the balance in hand at the commencement of the year, amounted to £114 18s. 9½d., leaving a balance of £5 0s. 2d. due to the officers.

Constables’ Land [one of the town’s charities dating from 1770]: The balance in hand arising from this is £26 19s. 2d. which is handed over by the overseer to his successor. The fund being a sort of private account of the overseer, is available for purposes for which others are not: there appeared to be a unanimous opinion in favour of appropriating a portion of this money (about £15) towards putting down an iron palisading on the west side of the footpath through the churchyard, similar to the one on the opposite side.

Fire brigade: It appeared that there had been two fires during the last year and that there was a balance in hand of 2s. 6d. In connection with this matter, it was stated that three members who some time since withdrew from the force, refused to give up their hats and coats and the vestry recommended the committee to take the necessary steps to compel them to give up the property in their possession belonging to the brigade.

Burial Board: The next business on the notice paper was to receive a report from the Burial Board in reference to an application for the vote of the vestry sanctioning the grant of a further sum of money for the purposes of the Burial Board. Mr John Bell, the Clerk to the Board, read the report from which it appeared that the income was adequate to the expenditure. In the year 1859, the last grant from the parish of £50 was made and £42 10s. 2d. of that sum was expended in labour in making gravel paths, &c., and in the purchase of shrubs. The balance of £7 9s. 10d. was applied towards the reduction of the bank debt which at that time amounted to about £50. During the last three years, the mortality had been below the average. In the year ending March 25^th, there were only 49 interments. The income was £25 15s. 6d. and the expenditure £45 11s. 8d. The present liabilities of the Board amount to £61 14s. 6d. and it was estimated that an outlay of about £20 would be required for the purpose of re-building a portion of one of the walls, for laying a drain and for re-placing some of the shrubs which were killed by the severe weather. The sum of £60 was then unanimously voted by the vestry. This finished the business upon the notice paper.

Other business: Mr Henry Bott said that as this was the meeting at which several matters were usually brought forward, though not upon the notice paper, he wished to direct attention for a few minutes to a subject he thought would be admitted to be of some importance to the rising generation. He referred to the Grammar School and the piece of ground to the east side of it. The scholars attending that school were often seen playing on the unenclosed portion of the churchyard, two gravestones having been recently broken off, and several inhabitants had reason to complain of the boys playing in the streets in consequence of the want of a suitable playground. What was stated in reference to this piece of land in the will of the noble donor to whom the parish was indebted for the school he knew not, but looking at the doorway which opened out of the school on the piece of ground in question, he could not help thinking it very probably that sometime, perhaps many years ago, it was used as the playground for the scholars. As a garden, it could be of only small pecuniary advantage to any one and he hoped the vicar would take the subject into consideration with a view to its being attached to the school as a playground, for which by its position it seemed very suitable. Other gentlemen expressed their concurrence and the general feeling of the meeting seemed to be in favour of the suggested alteration. Mr Thomas Mawby, as the occupier of the piece of land, under the vicar, expressed his readiness to give it up for the purpose referred to and the vicar promised to take the matter into consideration. He hoped that if it were appropriated in the way suggested, the persons interested would put it into a proper state for a playground.

The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman, who in replying, said he was glad to be able to state that altogether this was one of the most agreeable Easter Monday meetings at which he ever had the pleasure of presiding.

Council chairman and mayors of Bourne since 1894

REVISED AUGUST 2005

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