Abstract
The article provides a case study about the lowest level of local government in England. It does not mention so-called principal councils that are legal term for counties, districts and unitaries.
It does not question a deeply rooted knowledge on large local authorities in the Great Britain, but the text tries to bring a different perspective on the British local government. It is focused on the parish/town councils in England.
Territories of Wales, Scotland and the North Ireland are not included because of there was a different development, especially after devolution process. The parishes form the most local level of government and their overwhelming majority represents populations of less than 5,000.
Parishes suffer from two difficulties. They do not cover the whole territory of England and they are not obliged to providing particular services and facilities by law.
They have no statutory duties, but they possess some statutory rights. The scope of services depends on their own decision.
During the time parishes have gained stronger support from central government and currently they strengthen their position thanks promoting the radical decentralisation of power by coalition government. This happened on the backdrop of long-lasting and continuous local government restructuration and merging to greater and greater local authorities.