On Tuesday 23rd July there was a free conference at LGA, Smith Square, London on the Power of General Competence. LGA had commissioned research into the uses and effectiveness of the Power since it was introduced in the Localism Act 2011 and enacted in 2012.
While it is mainly principal authorities that are using the Power there are a number of town and parish councils which are enthusiastically using the new primary Power to deliver services to their communities. The research report illustrates the diverse use the Power has been put to:
- Oxford City - helping to tackle poor attainment in primary schools
- Crewkerne Town Council - taken over the running of youth clubs previously provided by Somerset County Council
- Sprowston Town Council - acquired a youth and community service building from Norfolk County Council which it is refurbishing to provide a multi-use community centre
- Stoke City - developing a range of green energy initiatives
Only eligible town and parish councils can use the Power: eligible councils need to have two thirds of councillors to have stood for election, a qualified clerk (Cilca or higher qualification) and resolved to grant themselves the Power. The Chairman and clerk of Swallowfield Parish Council attended the conference to find out more about how to use the Power; the council has an interesting development scheme which it would like to pursue using GPC.
This new Power has the enthusiastic backing of this Government, Sec of State, Eric Pickles attended and spoke bluntly about the need for councils to be transparent and innovative.
The presentations are on the LGA website
and the speech by Rt Hon Eric Pickles, Secretary of State is available here
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