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Mind the gap
If there is a theme to the progress of the Localism Act 2011 so far, it is that there is a considerable distance between what the Government promised it would achieve and what the legislation is actually able to deliver in practice.
This gulf is one of the main findings to come out of a survey of heads of legal and other senior governance officers undertaken by Local Government Lawyer and Freeth Cartwright LLP.
Examples of the use of the general power of competence or the charging and trading powers to support innovative projects remain extremely thin on the ground, while the community rights to bid and challenge have yet to take off in any substantial way. Meanwhile, the vaunted clarification of the laws of predetermination and bias introduced by the Act has mostly served only to convince some members that previous restrictions have been significantly watered down. Read more...
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About the survey
Seventy-eight local authorities responded to the survey questionnaire between 17 September and 5 November 2013, of which 68 completed all the questions. Fifty per cent of responding councils were districts; 22% unitary authorities; 12% London boroughs; 7% county councils; and 4% metropolitan borough councils. Respondents’ positions were: director or assistant director (23%); head of legal (64%); deputy head of legal (3%); head of section or principal solicitor (10%); other (12%).
The survey was followed by a roundtable session to discuss the findings, hosted by Freeth Cartwright LLP in Nottingham on 14 November. The attendees included: Jill Coule, Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council; Paul Cox, Rushcliffe District Council; Paul Cummins, Tunbridge Wells District Council/Mid-Kent Legal Services; Nicholas Dobson, Freeth Cartwright; Paul Hoey, Hoey Ainscough Associates; Eleanor Hoggart, Lincolnshire Legal Services; Nathan Holden, Freeth Cartwright; Rachel Howe, NW Leicestershire District Council; Sarah Khawaja, Leicester City Council; Stephen Pearson, Freeth Cartwright; Simon Pugh, Cambridge City Council; Michelle Sacks, Staffordshire County Council.
