Leicestershire and Rutland Association of Local Councils
Parish Councils and Rural Matters in Leicestershire – An LRP commissioned study
Background
Leicestershire and Rutland Association of Local Councils (LRALC) is the lead body on one of the ‘Big 7’ Leicestershire Rural Partnership (LRP) priorities; namely “Active, inclusive and empowered parish councils and meetings able to represent and support rural communities and lead innovative service delivery at the local level”.
In the 2012-13 LRP ‘Big 7’ outcome plan one of the outcomes under the parish council theme was to undertake research with Parish Councils around rural priorities. This was in order to maximise data availability for setting future outcomes and engagement with parish councils, and to develop a robust evidence base on the needs of these councils to effectively address rural issues.
The Commission for Rural Communities estimates that "19.1% of England's population live in rural areas" – almost 1 in 5. It is often said that Parish Councils play an essential role in these rural communities. Indeed in early 2013 Communities ecretary Eric Pickles lauded them as localism’s "magic wand", and LRALC supports and encourages the securing of additional non-precept resources to assist them in this role. According to the Rural Services Network, more than 30 MPs "have demanded a fairer share of government funding for rural local authorities”, though such funding is usually channeled through principal authorities.
At a more local level, supporting and empowering parish councils came out as a high priority at the Leicestershire Together Challenge 2012/13 sessions in early 2013. Feedback from these sessions included;
· Parish and Town Councils need to be more effective – the best they want to be – able to respond to local needs
· Opportunity to refocus on prevention and the role of rural communities and parish councils
· PCs have substantial powers and can raise precept if they want/need to – opportunities to devolve more services to parishes?
· Untapped resource of Parish Councils, although variety in terms of size and resource
These comments in many cases came from those not involved in parish councils, showing the recognition and enthusiasm from partner organisations and other bodies to maximise the role that parish councils can play in delivering services and strategic priorities across Leicestershire.
This survey aimed to measure the appetite from local councils themselves in embracing these roles, something that previously has not necessarily been the case due to concerns about “double taxation” and perceptions about the role of parish councils vs. principal authorities, roles now being debated and redefined as part of a new narrative resulting from public sector austerity measures. Examples of this include “What Next for Localism”[1] (NALC, 2012), and “Modelling Devolution”[2] (LGA & NALC, 2012).
Finally, the Open Public Services White Paper and the Sustainable Communities Act both give an indication of the greater responsibility and priority that is likely to fall on local councils as part of the Government’s wider policy agenda. Parish councils have a highly significant role in the Government’s agenda for promoting localism and open public services. As the Government itself says, “They have a close understanding of what their communities want and can tailor a wide range of local services including grants to local organisations and financing projects such as new community buildings and facilities” This ethos, in turn, is reflected in Leicestershire County Council’s “Communities in Charge” approach to service delivery.
However, as the Chairman of the National Association of Local Councils himself says, it is “true that sometimes local councils themselves could react and respond more dynamically to this rapidly changing policy context and to local needs and aspirations”; local councils themselves need to embrace this agenda for it to be effective.
We hope that the broad range and excellent number of survey responses received will provide a robust evidence base upon which to identify areas where support and resources should be targeted, and hopefully secure additional funds to support local councils in rural Leicestershire.
Methodology
LRALC conducted the survey early in 2013. A request for responses from local councils was put out to all such organisations in Leicestershire via a number of routes including email, monthly LRALC newsletter, and LRALC website. The survey itself was available via on-line completion (LRALC website) and hard copy, though no responses were received in the latter format.
The survey was completed (in full or part) by 53 Local Council or Parish Meeting representatives with contributions being received from Councils/Meetings in all Districts/Boroughs.
50% of Councils that contributed had an electorate of less than 1001, reflecting their rural nature (see graph below).
Summary of main findings
Rural Matters
92.4% of respondents indicated that rural issues were a priority for their Council, though recent experience tells us that there is not a high level of engagement from local councils with LRP events.
There were a range of reasons given for why rural issues were felt to be a priority for respondents, including:
· The parish “is a small but active rural community and we are trying to keep it that way
· The parish “is classed as a Rural Centre as it is situated in an area away from large towns or cities. It has few transport links and few facilities”
· “we feel the villages rural character is under threat”
· “Although the demographic profile of the villagers has changed from, say, 20 years ago as many people commute to work, there is still a farming community”
· “The hundreds, possibly thousands of villages and their surrounding countryside areas are part and parcel of this countries history and heritage and we as councillors must protect all of them”
· “We are a small, but very spread out rural parish between the urban areas of Ashby and Coalville. We wish to retain the rural nature of the parish through controlled development but to provide the facilities that will encourage people to live in the parish”
· “We are in a rural area and one village is already identified as being priority neighbourhood. Currently awaiting results of rural affordable housing survey”
· “Inappropriate development is a big problem here. Lack of broadband provision causes major problems. Lack of consultation from District Council”
· “Because it is getting more difficult to sustain the viability of local facilities”
· “The digital age means rural communities are being left behind when broadband speeds are so low. This is resulting in disenfranchising rural communities and I am most concerned that if this continues people living in such areas will become even more isolated and out of touch with 21st Century living and all that entails”
· “We help local groups with advice, and funding if required”
· “We are a large parish in a predominantly rural area and act as a hub for utilities and services”
· “Residents are anxious to protect and conserve the beautiful Parish environment. A key current objective is the implementation of the refurbishment project at [the] Community Centre which will include a community coffee shop and meeting point”
· “As a very small rural parish [the parish] suffers from the usual lack of facilities and services in rural areas”
· “We have three villages and a hamlet, we are a small rural pocket on the edge of Leicestershire, our needs are often overlooked as we are close to larger towns and often become lumped together with them, which although we share a postcode [with], we are not at all similar, in a different county, and our issues are miles apart”
· “We are a small rural community, with few amenities, limited bus services and surrounded by farmland”
· “Particularly keen to maintain rural fringes of the village and prevent urban spread, because of the huge benefit we get from open spaces”
· “Important to maintain rural resources and services”
· “Although we do not have many farmers, we want to support them and other rural businesses. Otherwise there is a danger that the community becomes a dormitory one”
There are some common themes in these comments; rural broadband, local facilities, the rural economy, protecting the rural characteristics of an area, providing and enabling community activities, and housing and planning matters.
The grid below gives in indication of what respondents believe their Council’s role was in addressing rural issues, and also what they actually currently do in addressing rural issues.
‘Lobbying higher tiers of local government and others’ and ‘Working with the voluntary sector and other partnerships’ are clearly considered to be the primary roles for parish and town councils in addressing rural issues.
‘Direct provision of facilities/services’ and ‘Providing funds to support the provision of local facilities/services’ are also considered to be significant roles.
The “believe” results are reflected in the responses to the “do” question regarding current activity in relation to rural issues, though interestingly for each role less councils are actually doing the work than tell us they believe they should be doing it. This is most noticeable in relation to working with the voluntary sector and other partnerships (including the LRP), and this may be an area for focussed support.
Partnership working
A further question was asked relating to the organisations/groups/partnerships that parish councils work with to support their work around rural issues. The responses indicated that a significant number of Councils primarily work with their District/Borough Council and LRALC, followed closely by the Rural Community Council and Leicestershire County Council to support their work around rural issues. A far smaller number of Councils already work with the LRP and VAL, which reflects the LRP’s experience in terms of parish council engagement with LRP forums and conferences.
Localism and the Localism Act
As mentioned in the introduction to this report, Government sees local councils as having a key role to play in delivering the localism agenda, and the Localism Act 2011 gives these councils specific powers which they can use to address local issues. The most powerful of these is the General Power of Competence[3] (GPoC), which allows local councils to do anything which an individual legally can do unless specific restrictions exist.
Take up of GPoC amongst local councils in Leicestershire remains low (less than 10 as of June 2013) with many councils not meeting one or more of the citeria, however 53% of respondents indicated that they may use GPoC to address rural issues in the future. This would suggest a need for ongoing support and training around GPoC, with sharing of national case studies being a key role for the National Association of Local Councils (NALC).
Looking at the wider localism agenda, and the Localism Act itself, 40% of respondents feel that the Act (and the wider agenda) will allow their Parish Council the same influence and impact when addressing rural issues, and 21% think it will allow Parish Councils to have more influence. 34% are unsure as to the effect it will have on their ability to influence.
Some of the reasons given for how the Act and the localism agenda will give local councils greater ability to be able to influence are detailed below;
· more powers to act on local issues if necessary
· Neighbourhood Planning
· Power and decision making being devolved from the centre to parish councils
· provision of services/facilities will be filtered down from higher tiers of Govt
· We no longer have a voice in planning matters/ housing issues, but we're better at local services and value for money
A selection of reasons for why respondents felt their influence would be the same or less is detailed below;
· The word is a bit hollow. Even a neighbourhood plan has to be "approved" by DC and above - and then it can be over-ruled
· We have not seen any changes to our influence or impact since the Localism Act
· We do not have the resources or funding to explore possibilities
· Until we 'recruit' more cllrs, we cannot take on more local responsibilities
· Cynical as neighbourhood plan in Localism has been prevented from progressing by tardy decisions by borough which have denied ability to influence planning outcomes
· Small parishes like ours have very limited funds and time to take on more services or responsibilities than we already have
Countywide strategic priorities and services
The relationship between the tiers of local government across England is usually one of co-operation and partnership, though priorities can, and often do, differ. However, the localism agenda combined with a substantial reduction in core funding for District/Borough and County Councils (local councils not being ‘capped’ at the time of writing) means that many principal authorities are looking to devolve services down to parish council level. Indeed, as previously mentioned, a joint report entitled “Modelling Devolution” was published in early 2013 by LGA and NALC which looked at various models of devolving services with the hope that principal and local councils would work together in a more structured manner in this area.
What is less clear is the role local councils should be playing in delivering county wide strategic priorities, which often they have played no direct role in forming. Local councils are autonomous precept raising local authorities who set their own priorities, however it is clear that county wide priorities could be more effectively and efficiently delivered with the engagement of these councils, and this would benefit communities at a parish level. 38% of respondents were not sure whether their Parish Council has a role to play in helping to deliver county-wide strategic priorities. The remainder of respondents were fairly equally split between those who consider PCs do have a role to play (30%) and those who consider PCs have no role to play (32%). With targeted work in this area it is possible that up to two-thirds of local councils would engage in delivering these strategic priorities.
Some of the reasons for these responses are detailed below.
· We have an important role to play as the nearest level of local government