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Our system of local government is reverting to the structure based around small communities which existed in Elizabethan times, argues Simon Randall Medieval local government was largely based on our ecclesiastical parishes and townships. Early powers related to crime prevention and control, army-raising, weights and measures – particularly for alcohol – highway repair and church maintenance. Indeed, many of the early official posts remain to this day, such as the sheriff, constable, justice of the peace and coroner. The concept of chartered towns arose through royal patronage, in exchange for either loans or gifts of money, and enabled the town to hold markets and own property as a ‘corporation'. Later, these towns or boroughs were granted the right for parliamentary representation. The first significant occasion when obligations were imposed on local government arose during the Elizabethan period, with the enactment of the Poor Relief Act 1601, which created vestries or workhouses for the poor. In the following years, local government increased its powers and responsibilities with the minimum of central control. So, during the Victorian era, local authorities were responsible for health following the 1831 cholera outbreak, education through school boards, and wider powers in respect of highways and sanitary and water boards. Local authorities were the first to introduce public lighting through either gas or electricity, and fully embraced many aspects of public road transport and telephone communication. Indeed, during the Victoria era local government ran the majority of services with very little central government interference. However, as local government became more organised and the services more expensive, central government took control of health, water, the utilities and increasingly influenced the quality and nature of education and social services. During this period, local government also lost the power to set business rates, and central government gradually increased the percentage of central rate support grant enabling local authorities to raise a reducing percentage through council tax, with many authorities raising higher sums through charges or commercial property rent. The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 has set the seal on local government's future over the next few years. Thus, our counties, districts and cities will continue to argue among themselves seeking unitary status through the auspices of the Boundary Committee, all of which will potentially increase the democratic deficit. We are heading towards a system in 2020 of largely unitary local authorities, with perhaps an elected mayor and cabinet of up to seven members, with significant and greater government control and influence, a trend which is seen in many other diverse areas. However, this change will be accompanied by the growing importance of the community at local level and, through it, the parish and town council. The 2007 Act not only provides increased powers for parish and town councils by enabling them to use their wellbeing powers – without the concomitant best value duty – but also providing rights for electors in specific areas to oblige the local authority to create a parish council, and it only requires a comparatively small percentage support in areas of more than 1,000 electors for such councils to be obligatory. So, we could well have parish councils in some of our existing unitary authorities such as Peckham, Pimlico or Putney. However, the growing trend to delegate powers to local communities and encourage more local self-help is also noticeable, with the encouragement of the community right to buy, and the creation of community land trusts to enable local people to retain the value of developable land for the provision of affordable homes for local people. Our existing and new parish councils can use their extremely wide powers to benefit the communities which they represent. They could be beacons in combating climate change by owning and maintaining commons, open spaces and woodland, as well as utilising their powers to provide drinking water through harnessing wells, springs or streams within their area. They also retain powers of crime prevention, and are able to own and promote community halls, conference facilities and the arts, as well as encouraging the provision of allotments for local food production to be sold in the thriving village shop and post office. The wellbeing powers will enable them to undertake expenditure in support of the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of their areas, and thus, with local support, could undertake a wide range of activities for their communities. So, local government in England is reverting to a more local community-based activity, empowering local people to support their parish and town councils in much the same way and with similar powers as our predecessors in Elizabethan times. Simon Randall is head of local government at law firm Lawrence Graham

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WHITEHALL

Back to the future for local government powers

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