04 February 2005
Radical plans to devolve control of services to neighbourhoods and reshape the landscape of local government have been launched this week, as Cabinet ministers gathered in Manchester for the Delivering Sustainable Communities summit.
New elected neighbourhood bodies will be set up and given powers to run local services, such as street cleaning, parks and community centres, and delegated budgets to spend on community priorities.
Councillors will be given seats on the new bodies and the remaining members will be local people chosen by direct elections.
The plans, unveiled by John Prescott as part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's five-year plan, People, places and prosperity, will give the new bodies a range of duties currently performed by local authorities.
But, in an interview with Public Finance, local government minister Nick Raynsford denied that he was eroding the powers of town halls and instead creating a new tier of local government.
He also rejected suggestions that the new bodies would be an additional expense for taxpayers, claiming instead that they would improve efficiency and lead to savings.
'Much of it already exists,' he told PF, pointing to England's network of 8,000 parish councils. 'Public services are likely to be better delivered if they are shaped around the needs of users.'
The ODPM plan, launched on January 31, says it will be up to local authorities whether they delegate responsibilities or budgets to the new bodies, based upon neighbourhood charters. Raynsford echoed that, saying that the strategy was aimed merely at establishing a 'permissive framework'.
But there will be pressure from Westminster for councils to adopt this approach as wider reforms of local government, including a full-scale reorganisation, are mooted.
Raynsford hinted that a tougher stance would be adopted if councils refused to co-operate, stressing that the Audit Commission would criticise town halls that failed to engage council taxpayers in decision-making.
The far-reaching changes would improve local services, Raynsford said, but would also provide a new role for backbench councillors. He admitted that Labour's reorganisation of local government had left many backbench councillors with little to do.
'One of the criticisms of the new structure of local government is that, while members of the Cabinet are busy, a number of backbenchers have found themselves under-utilised,' he said. 'We think it's important they should play a key role at neighbourhood level in their ward.'
Depending upon the charters drawn up by local authorities, the new bodies could be given power to issue antisocial behaviour orders and devise local byelaws.
Bodies that are given extensive powers would need to be elected, to avoid them being 'hijacked' by unrepresentative groups, said the minister.
Any decision to delegate budgets will depend on the ongoing review of local authority finance being conducted by Sir Michael Lyons, which is due to report at the end of this year.
The new bodies would also have the power to set up neighbourhood improvement districts, where residents would be asked to pay extra council tax to fund specific additional services.
These could be introduced if a majority of residents in an area voted in favour of the proposals.
Raynsford also wants councils in the main English cities to look again at the issue of directly elected mayors. 'They can help to build effective partnerships that galvanise a city's performance,' he said.
But there is no unanimity on this point in the government. Speaking at the opening of the summit, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said he remained to be convinced of their value, especially following the mayoral election in Hartlepool. 'We had a mayor who got elected because he dressed up as a monkey and gave away bananas,' he reminded delegates.
Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, chair of the Local Government Association, said: 'The challenge for this overly centralised country, to devolve power to elected local leaders and join up public services at a local level, now appears to be increasingly recognised across government. This represents a sea-change in thinking.
'Imposed one-size-fits-all solutions should be rejected in favour of flexible approaches that meet local circumstances.'
PFfeb2005
