Ingatestone and Fryerning

Ingatestone and Fryerning is a civil parish in the Brentwood borough of Essex, England.

The parish includes the villages of Ingatestone and Fryerning, and covers an area of 3917 acre.

History
The civil parish was formed on 25 March 1889 by the Local Government Board's Provisional Orders Confirmation (Poor Law) (No. 6) Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. lxiii), which merged the ancient parishes of Ingatestone and Fryerning. The two parishes were oddly shaped, with the parish of Fryerning running from the north-west to the south-east of Ingatestone, bisecting the other parish.

Unusually, most of the village of Ingatestone was in the parish of Fryerning, and therefore not in the parish of Ingatestone.

On 1 October 1950 some land around Handley Green was moved to the parish of Margaretting, and at the same time an area to the south-west of Margaretting Hall was added to Ingatestone and Fryerning.

Parish council
A year after the passing of the Local Government Act 1894, Ingatestone and Fryerning Parish Council was formed. Since then, the council has had thirteen different chairmen.

The parish council today has fifteen directly-elected members who each serve for four years. There are no wards – all councillors are elected by the entire parish – and all fifteen are elected at the same time. The most recent elections were held in May 2011 and were contested by twenty candidates.

The entire parish council meets monthly, although there are also meetings of three committees: Policy and Resources, Churchyards and Environment, and Planning. The Planning Committee meets once a fortnight, the other two committees once a month.

The parish council raises a precept on the local Council Tax, and has an annual income of around £120,000. The council has offices and directly employs three members of staff.

Activities
The parish council is responsible for a range of local amenities with the villages:
 * Fryerning cemetery
 * Closed churchyard in Ingatestone
 * Fairfield recreation ground, including provision of play equipment
 * Sports pavilion at Seymour Field recreation ground
 * Management of sports facilities at Seymour Field, and provision of BMX track
 * Provision of bus shelters
 * Organisation of village events, including Victorian-themed Christmas evening
 * Examining and responding to all planning applications within the parish
 * Provision of village signs
 * Operation of allotments
 * Proposing parking restrictions within parish