TCEP Citizenship

Restoring The City And County Of Canterbury Petition

Please sign the petition, whether for or against, before 28 December 2012:-
 
          The signatories to this petition request that Canterbury District Council petition for and support County Corporate powers for the City of Canterbury, with the greatest boundary and extent of the privileges and powers granted to the City and County of Canterbury during the five hundred and twenty-six years of its existence before abolition at midnight on 31 March 1974.
 

            The ultimate aim of this petition is to restore original County Corporate status to the old City of Canterbury, as existed for 526 years until midnight on 31 March 1974 and which was greater than borough status for other councils.
 
            County Boroughs were the original all-in-one single tier local authority.  The Canterbury Education Authority of the City and County of Canterbury was also the managing agent for the St. Augustine's Division of the Kent Education Committee, demonstrating an effective and efficient use of scarce resources without overlapping layers.  Counties Corporate became County Boroughs under the Local Government Act 1888.  Kent had only one County Borough.
 
            In the interim, parish council powers for the old City of Canterbury could help extend the delegated budget of Canterbury Area Members Panel.
 
            Section one of the Localism Act 2011, when brought into force by the Communities Secretary, would enable a local authority to do anything that individuals generally may do, subject only to commercial purposes being done through a company.  Area Members Panels could be devolved powers and resources by Canterbury District Council, Kent County Council and others.  District Councils in Kent are already sharing resources with their neighbours, within a boundary similar to that identified in 1986 for a Riding of East Kent based on the long established and successful concept operating in Yorkshire.
 
            The seat of King Ethelbert's kingdom deserves to be restored to full County Corporate status, as a City and County in its own right, befitting its hard earned international status in the world and particularly how that arose.
 
            This petition was launched eight hundred and fifty years after Lord Chancellor of England Thomas Becket was ordained a priest on 2 June in the year 1162 and the following day consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury.  The remainder of that story forms part of the history of the County Corporate City and County of Canterbury and why its influence in the world is so great.