Parish Councils are one of the oldest, unreformed parts of local government. Elwick Parish Coucil was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 with seven elected members to cover the parish of Elwick, which then only covered the area to the east of North Lane. It did not include the parish of Elwick Hall, the land to the west of North Lane. The first meeting of the Parish Council was on 4th December 1895 and a Clerk was also appointed at a salary of £5 per year.

In 1897 it established the first village Bye-laws (see the 'Village Green' page) which were only revised in the 1980‘s. Following this, a number of successful prosecutions were taken out for such offences as grazing a pony, or driving a horse and cart, on the village green.

The minute books also show that in 1902 the Parish Council complained about the state of the road between the village and West Hartlepool which just goes to show that things don’t really change! This was repeated in 1913 when it was reported that Doctors were charging extra to come to the village since they had to come to the village via Hart or Dalton Piercy because the road was so bad.

Although there is much interesting history of the Parish Council, the next major development was the amalgamation of Elwick and Elwick Hall parishes in the 1970s to form the present parish. This meant that overnight, the population of the Parish almost doubled and its geographical area quadrupled, though it could still only elect seven Councillors. 

All parish councils have an overall responsibility for the well-being of their local community. A parish council’s work falls into 3 categories:

• Representing the local community
• Delivering services to meet local needs
• Striving to improve the quality of life in the parish.

There are some things a parish council MUST do, they are mandatory, that is, required by law; these include the appointment of such officers as it believes necessary for the ‘proper discharge of its functions’, (Elwick Parish Council has only one such officer, the Parish Clerk, who is also the Responsible Financial Officer (RFO)); the holding of an Annual Meeting, and having Standing Orders – the rules that govern how the council operates.  

Mandatory duties also apply to other levels of government, for example a parish council MUST be consulted by its local authority on: local Planning Applications; Highways/Road safety issues; long-term planning and wider community involvement strategies. (In reality we have very little power or influence, especially when it comes to Planning. We can express a view but that doesn’t mean anyone will actually take any notice of what we say!).

Parish councils also have a wide range of discretionary powers, i.e. things they may choose to do, such as organise a community transport scheme, own and maintain play areas/equipment or public bus shelters, and to make Bye-laws in regards to open spaces/commons/village greens and so forth.

It is a complex area of what we can and cannot do but, in general, the Parish Council has quite wide-ranging powers but not too many duties.

In Elwick, the main responsibility is to do with the maintenance of the green and other open spaces, including arranging grass cutting, tree maintenance and other general maintenance and improvement functions. Ownership of the village green is vested in the Parish Council who are entrusted with the enforcement of the Bye-laws. Even if the Parish Council so wished, it cannot allow the green to be used for car parking or bonfires since it is unlawful.

In the early years of this century, the Parish Council successfully campaigned to have high-speed broadband brought to the village and a 5-year campaign for rural transport to be reinstated led to the provision, in early 2020, of the dial-up ‘Tees Flex Rural Bus Service’, sponsored by Ben Houchen, Mayor of Tees Valley Combined Authority.

The Parish Council is currently involved in major issues facing the village such as the urgent need for a by-pass and the premature closure of the crossings on the A19. We continue to respond to needs, acting as the voice of our residents and campaigning when necessary.

We are active members of the Hartlepool Rural Plan Group, and continue to monitor the ‘Rural Plan’ in its implementation, since its formal adoption by Hartlepool Borough Council in late 2018. All Hartlepool’s rural parish councils strive to protect the rural environment, whilst still being open to sensitive and sustainable development within and around our villages. This has led to some challenging issues as developers, and Borough Council alike, continue to ignore the importance and relevance of Rural Plan policies.

The Parish Clerk is the PROPER OFFICER of a parish council. The role of the Clerk is to:

• Advise parish councillors on legal matters, ensuring their decisions are lawful
• Keep abreast of new legislation and ensure the parish council is compliant with this;
• Provide administrative support, such as setting the agenda and, where relevant, producing papers in support of items on the agenda;
• Draft the minutes of parish council meetings;
• Implement any action points arising from meetings and
• Organise the Annual Parish Meeting.

In Elwick, being a relatively small parish, our Clerk is also the Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) and has responsibility for managing the Parish Council's money - making purchases, ensuring invoices are paid, producing monthly reports, managing and monitoring contracts, arranging the Internal Audit and completing and forwarding the Annual Governance and Accountbility Report to the External Auditors.

Our present Clerk also makes applications to potential funders on behalf of the Parish Council, for projects of community benefit. To date these have included:

• The purchase of new children's play equipment for the Playing Field
• A Wildlife Garden project, including 2 benches, one coverered with wildlife carvings made by local schoolchildren with the support of a professional woodcarver, a 'Bug Hotel', rubbing posts and information boards
• GPS mapping equipment to allow the Parish Councl to record the land, trees, benches and assets they and the Borough Council own on a map of the area
• The refurbishment of the ancient footpaths at each end of the village green and new fencing along the path down Church Bank leading to the Playing Field and church
• The installation of new steps up to the church from the bottom of Church Bank
• The purchase and installation of a storage shed for some of the Parish Council's physical assets
• The purchase of new marquees, tables and a PA System for use at events
• The refurbishment of the Wildlife Garden, with a larger pond, wildflower meadow and insect friendly flowering shrubs, trees, perennials and bulbs.

All such projects are then managed through to completion and final reporting to the funder.

Other regular tasks include writing a monthly report on the Parish Council's activities for Village Life and populating and maintaining the web-site (no small thing!).