Britwell Parish Council, R (on the application of) v Slough Borough Council

A principal council reviewing community governance must interpret and apply abolition guidance as a whole. Abolition of a parish council is exceptional and requires evidence both that abolition is justified and that local opinion has clearly and continuously supported it. The test is not satisfied merely because a significant or sizeable minority supports abolition. A poll is not mandatory, and its result is not necessarily conclusive, but all relevant evidence must be assessed. A decision materially influenced by a misinterpretation of the guidance is unlawful and must be quashed.

Britwell Parish Council and Wexham Court Parish Council sought judicial review of Slough Borough Council’s order abolishing their parishes and dissolving the parish councils. They argued that the Council had failed to follow paragraph 120 of the community governance guidance because the consultation material and advisory polls did not show clear and sustained local support for abolition. They also alleged failures to consider their representative role and irrationality.

The claims were heard together. The issues were whether the Council had properly understood and applied the Guidance, whether it had considered the parish councils’ democratic role, and whether its decision was irrational.

Claims succeeded. The Order abolishing Britwell and Wexham Court parishes and dissolving their parish councils was quashed because the Council materially misinterpreted paragraph 120 of the Guidance.

1. A local authority must read statutory guidance fairly, as a whole and in context. It must understand and apply the guidance properly, and act in accordance with it unless it has clear reasons for departing from it.
2. Paragraph 120 establishes two requirements for the exceptional step of abolition: evidence that abolition is justified, and evidence of clear and sustained local support. The latter requires consideration of whether local opinion broadly supports abolition over a sustained period. It is insufficient merely to identify a significant or sizeable number of supporters.
3. No poll is required, and a poll need not be definitive. If a poll is held, its reliability, including turnout, must be assessed alongside consultation responses and other material.
4. The Council applied an erroneous threshold approach to both parishes. It asked whether a sizeable body supported abolition rather than whether local opinion broadly supported abolition over time.
5. The Council did consider the parish councils’ role as democratically elected representative bodies and alternative arrangements for community engagement. The irrationality ground did not need to be determined because the legal error independently required the Order to be quashed. The Council could reconsider the matter and, if it wished to depart from the Guidance, do so only for clear reasons.