Localism Bill 'will cost councils £68m'

7 Jun 11
English councils will have to find an extra quarter of a million pounds a year to fund the extra administration costs imposed by the Localism Bill, town hall leaders are warning.
By Vivienne Russell | 7 June 2011


English councils will have to find an extra quarter of a million pounds a year to fund the extra administration costs imposed by the Localism Bill, town hall leaders are warning.

The Local Government Association says the additional work, such as checking the validity of names on petitions and running local referendums, will cost local government £68m a year.

LGA chair Margaret Eaton described the Bill as ‘something of a curate’s egg’.

She said: ‘There are good bits and bad. The general power of competence offers a desirable devolution of power to local authorities, but it’s being undermined by a number of measures which seek to entrench significant new powers in the hands of ministers and Whitehall.

‘With the amount of money councils receive from government being cut by 28% in real terms in the next four years, ministers must avoid introducing measures which divert resources into pointless, old-fashioned bureaucracy.’

The LGA is also unhappy with plans to allow ministers to dictate how much councils can borrow to invest in social housing and to make councils pay European Union fines for missing national targets in areas such as improving air quality and boosting recycling rates.

But the Department of Communities and Local Government said the LGA's figures were 'grossly exaggerated'. A spokesman said: 'Inevitably, as with any radical change, putting the localism agenda into practice is going to mean local authorities taking on some new responsibilities. 

'The government is committed to ensuring that any additional burdens on councils are funded in accordance with the new burdens doctrine. The impacts of the Bill have been assessed in the usual way, and the necessary funding will be made available.

The Localism Bill receives its second reading in the House of Lords today.

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