Communities secretary John Denham gave his backing to the Total Place agenda in his first speech to the LGA conference last week. As exclusively revealed in The MJ last week, he pledged to give greater influence to local authorities over public services in their area. The minister told councils not to wait for the Government's go-ahead, but to forge ahead with the agenda as it would be a major part of future policy. He also vowed to look at the recent LAML judgement, which called the use of the power of wellbeing into question. ‘I have asked my officials to meet with the LGA as soon as possible to discuss what response would be appropriate,' he added. However, speaking to The MJ later, he ruled out a shift to a power of general competence but claimed he did not want to stifle councils' ability to innovate. He added: ‘I will shortly be launching a consultation which will explore all of these questions.'
