Introduction

On 19 July I attended the NALC Conference entitled ‘Communities in Action’. It was held in Sheffield and should have opened with a plenary session led by Andrew Stunnel MP (Secretary of State at the DCLG), but he had had to send his apologies, because he had been summoned to an emergency meeting of the Cabinet – something to do with phone hacking scandals.

He was replaced by John Findlay (NALC’s Chief Executive) and Martin Etheridge (Head of Stakeholder Engagement at the DCLG).

A choice of four out of eight workshops was available throughout the day. I attended the following:

  • Affordable Housing and the New Community Right to Build
  • Asset Transfer and Saving Local Facilities
  • Power of Well Being and the New General Power of Competence
  • Neighbourhood Planning

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Michael Chater (Chairman of NALC)

Michael Chater welcomed everyone and outlined the theme of the conference: ‘making a difference’.

Local councils work towards improving community life. They help provide a voice for local people and are there to feel the pulse of the local community.

NALC has a mission to support local councils and has strategic plans in place for this purpose. The objectives are to develop the roles and capabilities of local councils. NALC is there to help and would like to secure effective and efficient services for its councils. It also needs to secure resources to help deliver those services.

There will be enormous opportunities available and challenges to be faced over the coming years as the Localism Bill takes effect. The aim is to re-invigorate the most local form of government. NALC’s conferences were being held to develop local councils.

Plenary Session: Where We Are

John Findlay OBE (NALC Chief Executive)

NALC had applied a number of priorities over the past 10 years:

  • To influence central Government to ensure that local councils, which had long been neglected, were given their proper place.
  • To get the message across to the public in terms of their understanding of what local councils do.
  • To support town and parish councils and the County Associations of Local Councils.
  • To encourage the creation of new local councils in urban areas and within areas controlled by the unitary authorities. Although central government were very keen on this, there was still some resistance from principal authorities. Local councils are very much needed in areas where district councils have disappeared and only unitary authorities remain.

The Localism agenda has cross-party support. The ‘Big Society’ is this government’s version of localism and the Bill is at the core of this. Initiatives spawned by Central Government and ‘Big Society’ organisations abound.

NALC’s All Party Parliamentary Group has been going for many years and these days it is very well attended. NALC covers all the major political party conferences and works closely with the DCLG, DEFRA and the Cabinet Office. However, informal agreement does not necessarily mean delivery on the ground. The latter is much more difficult to achieve.

The Localism Bill provides for neighbourhood forums. NALC has considerable concerns about these – they will not consist of elected members and will not necessarily function democratically. There are Ministers who also have concerns about them. Who will they be accountable to?

Neighbourhood forums will not raise money directly from the public purse, but their accounts will also not be subject to public audit. They could very quickly be taken over by single interest groups.

The Code of Conduct is being abolished by the Bill. NALC’s view is that this is unwise. Each local council will be entitled to make its own decision about what Code of Conduct it should adopt and, indeed, whether it should even adopt one at all. There should be a standard Code of Conduct across the board.

In the future it may be possible for local councils to become planning authorities.

There is disagreement in Downing Street about the ‘Big Society’. The Prime Minister leads a group who are very much for giving power back to the people. Others in the Cabinet want to delay this progress. Many people wonder what the term ‘Big Society’ means.

The ‘Open Public Services White Paper’ sets out how the Government will improve public services. It is very dramatic in its proposals – outlined in its Statement of Intent. One of its key components is to reinvigorate local councils. Having established budgets and funding, it will be possible to take all public services available in an area and devolve them to local councils.

At present devolution of services is voluntary. Principal authorities tend to devolve those things they do not wish to run. It should be about local councils running what they wish to run. There is much room for development and more resources are needed to build all this.

It has taken many years to reach this point and much work has been done to get here. Local councils are a ready made fabric of democracy where they exist.

Plenary Session: New Opportunities for the Future

Martin Etheridge(Head of Stakeholder Engagement at the DCLG)

The recognition of the role of local councils is gaining momentum and local councils have a real chance to ‘seize the day’. We cannot do anything about the past, but we can look to the future. Civil servants are interested in shadowing local councillors and clerks to establish what they do.

Localism is the ethos: this means doing everything at the lowest possible level and only involving Central Government if absolutely necessary.

Decentralisation is the process: this means giving away power to individuals, professionals, communities and local institutions.

‘Big Society’ is the vision: this means a society where local people take responsibility for their actions and do things locally themselves.

There are three strands to the ‘Big Society’:

  • What the State can do for you – public sector reform;
  • What we can do for ourselves – community empowerment;
  • What we can do for others.

The ‘Big Society’ is about ‘making a difference’. It provides greater opportunities for people to get involved in their local communities. Citizens should, however, be able to see how their money is spent and are owed transparency.

Below is a local councils’ “Call to Arms”:

Celebrate

Accountability

Resources

Provider of Services

Enabler

Decentralisation

Increasing Choice

Encouraging More Local Councils

Mandate

The above mnemonic covers the current situation very well.

There are many examples of good practice with regard to local councils seizing the day. Amongst them is that of Sturry PC in Kent, which took over maintenance of the public toilets in the village when the principal authority withdrew and is now considering taking over the woodlands. Another is that of Sevenoaks Town Council, which took over an ailing Arts Centre from the District Council and turned it around.

The DCLG are considering allowing neighbourhood forums to have membership of County Associations with a view to developing them in the future. Responsibility for public services needs to go hand in hand with accountability.

Plenary Session: Discussion

During the discussion that followed delegates quoted further examples of good practice:

  • A local council serving a community in Somerset which had lost many of its facilities had built a new centre to house all the facilities in question.
  • Parish Councils in Cheshire had reduced anti-social behaviour in their areas by employing PCSOs.

They also raised concerns:

  • In some areas of some counties parish councils are being blocked off by principal authorities, who viewed them as a threat.
  • Neighbourhood forums seem to have more influence with principal authorities than parish councils, despite being unelected.
  • Some of the proposed Community Infrastructure Levy is expected to be diverted to local councils. Reassurance was needed that local councils would receive their fair share of the levy.
  • Comments on planning applications were not always taken any notice of by LAs.
  • Principal authority planning departments were being encouraged to have a presumption in favour of all applications.
  • Future changes in planning law.

Workshop 1: Asset Transfer and Saving Local Facilities

Neil Berry (Head of ~Enterprise, Locality)

Locality is a national Charity with a membership of about 600 community organisations. It was formed in April 2011 as a result of a merger of BASSAC (which dates back to the nineteenth century) and the Development Trusts Association (which was set up twenty years ago). Locality’s mission statement is: ‘Every community is a possibility.’

Locality has considerable experience in dealing with public sector to public sector asset transfer, having worked in this field with more than 100 LAs. The organisation has developed many specific relationships and processes and will give advice with regard to policy and practice.

Locality supports community enterprise. Independent organisations are better placed to do some things than LAs.

Locality advise that when local organisations are set up they should have a 20 year vision. They should not be used to simply provide short term solutions for problems that have developed over many years and need to consider the provision of income streams for the long term.

The third sector is still very under-capitalised, making it a very weak sector. It has a tendency to react to situations as they arise.

The Goodwin Development Trust is one example of the community organisations that constitute Locality’s membership. It is based in an inner city estate in Hull and has grown from small beginnings to an entity with a turnover of several million. For its history and the services it provides, please visit its website.

The first asset the Trust owned was a former LA care home. It now has several. Originally, the local Community Association persuaded the LA to transfer it to them. The CA did not have much success with the property, but then the GDT was set up and from then on things have progressed.

The reason for transferring assets as a gift are usually connected to potential growth. Asset transfer can take several forms, ranging from a long-term lease on a peppercorn rent to an under-value or off-market sale of the freehold. As the organisation’s autonomy in relation to the management of the asset increases, so does the degree of risk.

Asset transfer can be a very long and difficult process, lasting two to three years. There are many pitfalls and risks associated with it. The challenges include local political / community tensions, a shortage of appropriate finance, skills gaps and competition from private speculators. Organisations wishing to embark on such a project need to get their business case right.

The legislation relating to asset transfer is more complex than that for a sale. Another draw-back is that LA legal departments are not very used to dealing with long-term leases.

Asset transfer for local councils can be easier than for other organisations, because they are existing constituted bodies and can prove sustainability. The down-side is that they cannot attract commercial investment and cannot access charitable funding. There is a role for local councils as facilitators and supporters of community action, however.

An example of such a partnership between a local council and another organisation is that between Goole Town Council and Goole Development Trust. The Town Council view Goole Development Trust as one of their delivery vehicles. When the Council wished to run a café and other facilities, GDT submitted a tender for the contract and were successful in winning it.

A number of community run pubs have featured in the news recently. This has become a popular way of saving a local hostelry that is in danger of closing. The appropriate legal vehicle for a community wishing to go down this road is an Industrial & Provident Society, which can raise local finance through selling shares in the project. The I&P Society is similar in status to a charity.

Hudswell Community Pub in Yorkshire is one example of such a pub. Local residents had the qualities needed to make the project a success: passion about the project, belief in the project and themselves, resilience, patience and a willingness to invest both their money and their time.

Finance for such projects can be obtained through the sale of community shares, grants and loans. Co-operatives UK will give advice about community shares. Locality and other organisations are available to give advice with regard to business planning.

Besides the Industrial & Provident Society, there are two other legal vehicles available:

Community Interest Company (CIC) – the typical option of choice for a social enterprise, it comes with an asset lock built in.

Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG) – this is the most common choice, because a CLG can apply for and be awarded charitable status; there is no asset lock in this case, unless the CLG has charitable status, when the asset lock is far better than the one attached to a CIC.

Workshop 2: The Power of Well Being and the New General Power of Competence

Elisabeth Skinner (University of Gloucestershire)

The Power of Well Being is the informal name given to the statutory power enabling a local authority to ‘do anything which it considers likely to achieve the promotion or improvement of the economic, social or environmental well-being of their area’.

It is currently available to councils who have met certain eligibility criteria with regard to elected membership and training and have produced a statement of intent. A council can use this power to take over the local post office or the local pub, which it would not otherwise be able to do.

The Localism Bill will herald the advent of the General Power of Competence which will enable a local authority to have power to do anything that individuals may do. This power will fundamentally turn on its head the way in which local authorties have previously approached problems, enabling them to assume they have the power to act unless they are specifically prevented from doing so.

Councils will again have to meet certain conditions for eligibility to use this power – they are at present uncertain.

The remainder of the workshop was devoted to group work and discussion. Each group was given a case study and asked to determine which powers the council could use to achieve certain outcomes for its community, agree whether (or not) it would be useful to have the power of well-being and discuss whether (or not) it would be useful to have the general power of competence.

Workshop 3: Affordable Housing and the New Community Right to Build

Cameron Watt (Head of Neighbourhoods, National Housing Federation)

Why champion affordable homes? Rural communities are facing real challenges in attracting and retaining young people. This is because average house prices are twelve times average income. Rural areas are becoming the preserves of the wealthy and the isolated elderly. People on low to moderate incomes cannot afford to live and work there. Without an increase in the supply of affordable housing, it is difficult to see how other services can be delivered.

There is scope within planning policy for developing sites. Plots could be made available to local developers for more than agricultural value, but less than market value. Homes on rural exception sites could be made available to people on LA waiting lists at social rents.

The number of shared ownership schemes between LAs and Housing Associations could be increased. In London the individual’s ownership can be staircased up to 100%, but in the rest of the country it is only 80%. It is only through a partnership of this nature that a Housing Association can guarantee that a property goes to a local person.

What is happening now? At the moment the housing budget has been slashed by more than 60%, but the Housing Minister still wants to deliver the same number of properties.

The term ‘affordable rent’ refers to rent that is pitched at 80% of market value. This means that some homes are only affordable to people who are on benefits.

£25m have been ring-fenced for community led schemes. Local councils could probably attract more funding than other entities.

England’s planning system will be under-going a complete overhaul. Other changes to the planning system will be brought in via the Localism Bill.

Neighbourhood planning will involve a great deal of hard work, which will include setting out a vision of what development will be allowed in the area. The Plan has to be in line with Central Government’s and the LA’s Development Plans. Consultation with the electorate over the Plan will have to take place via a referendum. If the majority vote affirmatively, the Neighbourhood Plan will become a local planning document.

The Government wants Plans to be positive. Not many local councils are expected to go down this route.