Community Governance Review 2025 overview
What is a Community Governance Review (CGR)?
A community governance review looks at how local communities are governed and aims to improve how local responsibilities are managed and how residents can influence decisions.
It focuses on town and parish councils, which are the most local form of government in England.
There will be two stages of consultation for the review; this is the first consultation stage.
At this stage, we are seeking your thoughts and feedback on the current arrangements. A report of the feedback will then be compiled and presented to the General Purposes Committee for consideration. The second stage is a public consultation on the proposals for change.
Town and parish councils
Town and parish councils are elected local councils that represent communities. They look after things such as allotments, bus shelters, parks, playgrounds, public seats, public toilets, public clocks, village or town halls, maintenance of footpaths, cemeteries, village greens and some leisure and recreation facilities. They also have a say in planning applications and can help with crime prevention. However, the exact responsibilities vary between councils.
Find out more about the role of town and parish councils.
There are currently 71 town and parish councils in Central Bedfordshire, and 8 are small parishes which hold meetings instead of having a parish council.
Wherever you live in Central Bedfordshire, you will have two councils providing services: Central Bedfordshire Council and a town or parish council.
Central Bedfordshire Council covers the whole of Central Bedfordshire and provides services such as schools and care homes, social care, bin collections, road maintenance, leisure, libraries, trading standards, parks and planning.
You can view your town and parish council.
You can also read all of the terms of reference on our website.