| Description | By the Chester Improvement Act, 1884, the parishes within the city of Chester were constituted one parish for local government purposes. The Act made provision for the first vestry meeting to be summoned by the town clerk. It also decreed that the lamp and improvement rates, like the borough rate, were to be authorised by the Council and raised and paid by the overseers of the parish of Chester out of the poor rate. The powers of the vestry of the parish of Chester were transferred to the Council in 1896 under the Local Government Act, 1894. By the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, Chester became a separate rating assessment area and a Rating Committee of the Council was appointed in June 1926. The first general rate for the city was declared in 1929. The collection comprises a vestry minute and account book, 1885-96; and poor rate assessment books. |