06 September 2002
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office announced this week that they would be repealing 84 consent powers.
These were set up to ensure that councils had to seek government permission before they could make even the most local of decisions, including whether a director of social services could take on other 'functions'.
The deregulation will also allow councils to set their own upper limits on defective housing grants and set compulsory purchase orders. But while it appears limited to such minutiae, the move has been widely welcomed by councils as a step towards more local autonomy.
'We have been pressing the government for some time about progress on consent regime powers,' said Sir Jeremy Beecham, chair of the Local Government Association. 'This announcement should result in significant time-savings for local authorities.'
PFsep2002
