Rowton is a small village in the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester with a population of approx 500. The Village’s main claim to fame is that the Battle of Rowton Moor took place here on 24 September 1645. This is commemorated by a memorial stone with a plaque on the Village Green.
Rowton Parish Council is made of a group of people who live or work in the Parish who are elected to represent the interests of the Parish. We normally meet bi-monthly on Mondays at Rowton Methodist Church Hall on Moor Lane at 7.00pm. The agenda for each meeting is published in advance on the two village noticeboards as well as this website. Any member of the public can attend these meetings and can make a short statement at the start of the meeting about any item concerning them.
The Parish Council sees every Planning Application within the Parish and we pass any comments received plus our own onto the Planning Authority. Our comments are designed to reflect the interests of the Parish and to hopefully influence the Authority’s decisions.
We are a very approachable group and residents can and do speak to us about matters that concern them or any ideas they may have. Anyone can raise matters by emailing, telephoning, or writing to the Clerk (Christine Davies) and these matters will be put on the agenda for discussion at the next council meeting.
Parish Councils were created by the Local Government Act 1894 and are the tier of local government in England that is the closest to the people that they represent. Elected from local residents, Parish Councils represent the interests of people living and working in the parish. Parish Councils may also own and look after small amounts of property such as Village Greens.
The Parish Council budget comes from the parish precept (paid by residents as part of their Council Tax) and any grants that may be paid by the higher tier authority in the area, in the case of Rowton that is Cheshire West & Chester.
The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 set out a new audit framework for local public authorities - under which parish councils with an annual turnover not exceeding £25,000 will become exempt from routine external audit. Instead they are now subject to a Transparency Code published by central government. This enables local electors and ratepayers to access relevant information online about the accounts and governance of their local Parish Council. All of that information is now available for Rowton Parish Council on this website.