Dale Abbey Parish Council has strongly opposed potential changes to its boundaries as Erewash Borough Council considers the future of parish-level government across the borough.
The parish council has submitted its formal response to Erewash’s ongoing Community Governance Review, declaring its “unequivocal opposition” to alterations to its existing boundary or a merger with another parish unless there is a clear and informed mandate from residents.
At the centre of its concerns is Kirk Hallam.
Although Kirk Hallam is generally regarded as a community in its own right, parts of it currently fall within Dale Abbey Parish and are therefore already represented by a parish council.
Erewash Borough Council’s review is considering the option of creating parish councils for Ilkeston, Kirk Hallam and Long Eaton. It is also examining the existing parish council arrangements in Dale Abbey, Stanton-by-Dale and Sandiacre.
No draft recommendations have yet been made.
The current consultation is the first stage of the process, with responses being used by Erewash Borough Council to prepare draft recommendations which will then go out for a second public consultation.
More than half of parish council income
Because parts of Kirk Hallam currently sit within Dale Abbey Parish, any future proposal which resulted in those areas being transferred to a new Kirk Hallam parish could have significant implications for Dale Abbey’s existing boundary and finances.
Dale Abbey Parish Council says the financial consequences could be substantial.
In its consultation response, the council says the parts of Kirk Hallam within Dale Abbey Parish represent “well over half” of its council tax base and consequently generate more than half of the parish council’s precept income.
The parish precept is an additional amount collected through Council Tax to fund a parish council and the services it provides.
Dale Abbey Parish Council warns that losing a significant proportion of its tax base could result in services being reduced or the precept paid by residents remaining within the parish having to increase substantially.
It goes further, warning that such a change could potentially threaten the viability of Dale Abbey Parish Council in its current form.
Council says Kirk Hallam receives services
The parish council also argues that Kirk Hallam residents within its boundary are not simply a source of income.
Its response points to services and investment provided within those areas, including Christmas lighting, hanging baskets, maintenance and environmental improvements.
Residents living in those parts of Kirk Hallam also receive parish-level representation through Dale Abbey Parish Council.
The council argues that any future decision to remove those communities would therefore affect both the parish council itself and residents who currently receive its representation and services.
Concerns raised over consultation
Dale Abbey Parish Council has also raised concerns about how the Community Governance Review has been conducted.
It says many residents appeared to be unaware the consultation was taking place and says some households had not received information about it.
The parish council also questions whether residents have been provided with sufficient information about the potential consequences of changing existing parish boundaries.
Its formal response raises a number of legal and procedural questions and urges Erewash Borough Council to obtain appropriate legal advice before recommending significant changes.
These are concerns raised by Dale Abbey Parish Council in its submission to the review. Erewash Borough Council has not yet published its draft recommendations.
What is Erewash reviewing?
Erewash Borough Council is carrying out a Community Governance Review to decide whether existing local governance arrangements should be changed.
The review is considering the creation of parish councils for Ilkeston, Kirk Hallam and Long Eaton, as well as looking at the existing arrangements in Dale Abbey, Stanton-by-Dale and Sandiacre.
A parish council is an additional, very local tier of government which can provide services and facilities within its area and raises its own precept through Council Tax.
Erewash Borough Council says the aim of the review is to assess the desire among residents for parish councils in Ilkeston, Kirk Hallam and Long Eaton. The council also has a duty to keep community governance arrangements under review.
The review is taking place against the wider backdrop of proposed local government reorganisation in Derbyshire, which has increased discussion about how communities will be represented at a local level in the future.
What happens next?
The first public consultation closes on Thursday 20 August 2026.
Erewash Borough Council says responses received during this stage will be used to prepare draft recommendations.
Those recommendations will then be put to residents during a second public consultation, currently scheduled to run from 9 October until 4 December 2026.
The outcome of the Community Governance Review is expected to be published in January 2027.
Dale Abbey wants its boundaries left unchanged
Dale Abbey Parish Council’s position is clear.
It wants the existing parish to remain intact and says significant boundary changes should not be made unless there is a clear and informed mandate from the residents affected.
The council says it is not aware of significant local demand for Dale Abbey’s existing boundaries to be altered.
Its response also highlights an important complication in the debate over potentially creating a Kirk Hallam Parish Council.
Parts of Kirk Hallam already have parish-level representation through Dale Abbey Parish Council.
What happens to those areas – and to Dale Abbey Parish Council itself – is therefore likely to be an important issue as Erewash Borough Council develops its draft recommendations later this year.
4 Comments
Here we go again, a labour run council, attempting to redefine its boundaries, with the help of a labour Government, which reminds me of when Ilkeston town council, stopped being a Town council overnight, and without so much as a by your leave, with Erewash Borough Council under the new local government act of 1974 replacing the then Ilkeston Town Council, which found itself being locked out of the Ilkeston town council offices the following day, which was so claimed .
However, yes’ here we go a gain, only this time its called the (Planning and infrastructure Bill 2024-2026) (incorporating the local government act of 1974,- 2024- 2026,) created by none other than, yes you’ve guest it, Kier Starmer’s 2024 labour government, and as back in 1974, very little consultation’s and some also saying much the same, today, when it came to consultation, that no consultation ever happened, so yes’ here we go again, only this time it appears to be the parish councils turn, to be fixed, with the thing being they don’t need fixing, but then, we are talking about a labour government, that seem to have a thing about fixing things, that don’t need fixing, a bit like the country in general, it didn’t need fixing when they came to power, but it sure as hell dose now.
but and like most, I do have some plausible observations, has to the reason’s for the government’s attempt to change parish councils, and its all down to the veto the parish councils have, and hold when it comes to planning application permission’s, and they can also veto, the (planning and infrastructure Bill/Act 1974 – 2024-2026,) as could the local Town councils back in 1974 before it came to the (local government act 1974.) however as said just observation’s
It’s not quite that, it’s about part of the estate wanting its own parish for when the new unitary authority comes in. KIrk Hallam did have it’s own paris until 1934, so all we are doing is asking for it back. However, two large areas pay a precept to Dale AbbeyParish as they fall within its boundaries. Sadly, this would mean that many within Kirk Hallam could feel division from neighbours (who live just out of that border) or rest of the estate and not actually benefit from things a parish council in Kirk Hallam may provide
The Dale Abbey boundary, Northwest starting at Thacker Barn Cottages which incorporates most of the NW edge of Kirk Hallam Estate, down to the Southwest edge which takes the Dale Abbey boundary right through the Southwest edge of the kirk Hallam estate right up to the Southwest Pioneer Meadows, though looking at the boundary of Dale Abbey, and the lay out of the Kirk Hallam estate, it looks and appears as though the builder’s, just ignored the Dale Abbey boundary, define as you say in 1934 and just kept on Building, with more land taken than was allowed by the Dale Abbey parish council Boundary even though the building of the Kirk Hallam estate wasn’t started until 1953, and finished in 1970 with the completion of the Kirk Hallam Comprehensive, so yes you are quite right to challenge, and I totally agree with your stance .
And should you wish we can continue, as my Delving’s have determined the Kirk Hallam streets both North and Southwest Edges of Kirk Hallam that are part of the boundary conundrum in question and there’s most probably going to be more to come, given the politics, of this particular conundrum,
However thank you for your return comment