Fazeley, Town Councils, Local Government
Fazeley is a small town and civil parish in the District of Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. Fazeley is located on the outskirts of Tamworth. It sits astride the junction of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal and Coventry Canal; at Fazeley Junction are a couple of multi storey mills. Fazeley is also adjacent to Drayton Manor, formerly the home of Robert Peel and now a theme park and zoo. Fazeley also sits astride the old Roman road of Watling Street, which is now much quieter following the move of the A5 road to run on a new course between Fazeley and Tamworth. Nearby is Middleton Hall, a grade II listed building currently being restored by a charitable trust. The local primary school, Millfield Primary School was built in Victorian times and part of the original building still remains. The First Annual Fazeley Festival and Mile Oak Mile Charity Run took place on 15 September 2007. Fazeley is famous for Drayton Manor Theme Park which generates tourism for the area.
A town council is a democratically elected form of government for small municipalities or civil parishes. A council may serve as both the representative and executive branch. Depending upon local laws and regulations, town councils usually self-organize and elect a leader to set the agenda of their governing body. This leader may be granted a title such as chairman, mayor, or president. In England, town councils are civil parish councils, where the civil parish has declared itself to be a town. Civil parishes are the most local level of elected governance, under the district, unitary or county level. Any parish can decide to describe itself as a town. The chairman of a town council is called a town mayor. The term 'town mayor' is used as opposed to simply 'mayor', which means the mayor of a borough or a city. However, this is often abbreviated simply to mayor, especially where the town was historically a borough or city, such as Lewes or Ely.
Lichfield is a city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. One of seven civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly 25 km (16 miles) north of Birmingham and 200 km (124 miles) northwest of London. Lichfield is notable for its three-spired cathedral and as the birthplace of Samuel Johnson, the writer of the first authoritative Dictionary of the English Language. Today it still retains its old importance as an ecclesiastical centre, but its industrial and commercial development has been relatively small; the centre of the city thus retains an essentially old-world character. The construction of a major shopping and leisure complex, which will transform the city centre, was due to begin in 2009, however, due to the global economic downturn, the construction has been delayed. In July 2009, the Staffordshire Hoard, the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found in Britain was discovered in a field near Lichfield.