Consultation shows community support for parish council for Welwyn Garden City
A consultation carried out by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council (WHBC) has shown there is community support for the creation of a parish council for Welwyn Garden City.
A consultation carried out by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council (WHBC) has shown there is community support for the creation of a parish council for Welwyn Garden City.
The Council ran a consultation in May and June this year to explore whether creating a new parish council for Welwyn Garden City would benefit residents, following feedback from an initial consultation in October to December 2025. The process to establish a new parish council is known as a Community Governance Review.
There were 2,703 responses to the latest consultation, and the results show that 95% of respondents agree that there is a need for the Council to strengthen and enhance community engagement and empowerment within Welwyn Garden City for its residents. A parish council was favoured by 93% of respondents over other forms of representation. In addition, 92% of respondents said they supported a new parish council for Welwyn Garden City and acknowledged that it would be funded from several sources, including Council Tax from residents of Welwyn Garden City, compared to 8% who said they did not.
Officers will be developing proposals for a second consultation on establishing a parish council. This work will be presented to a meeting of WHBC’s Full Council in September for a decision on whether to begin the second consultation. The Council will consider the consultation responses together with other relevant factors in making its decision.
The Community Governance Review is being undertaken in light of the Government’s Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme, and its plans to replace current county council and district and borough councils, including WHBC, with unitary authorities. Welwyn Garden City is the only area in Welwyn Hatfield which does not have a town or parish council, and the Government has said that it is aware of the need to maintain a strong local voice after the creation of new unitary councils for Hertfordshire.
The role of a parish council is to focus on much more localised activities like organising local events, local community projects and providing allotments where there is a local need, although their functions and responsibilities vary. Responsibilities of the new unitary councils would include things such as infrastructure planning, highways maintenance, adult social care, children’s services, waste, planning, licensing, running elections, and Council Tax collection.
Councillor Kieran Thorpe, Executive Member for Governance, said:
“Thank you to everyone who shared their views in response to our consultation on creating a new parish council for Welwyn Garden City. These results clearly show there is sufficient support for this journey to proceed, and we will now develop proposals for a further consultation on some of the details involved with establishing a parish council. This is subject to a decision of the wider Council in September, so please look out for further updates on our communication channels.”
You can view the full results of the consultation on our website.