Wales could make its own laws to strengthen community and town councils

The Welsh Assembly Government has recently proposed that powers be given to Wales to allow the National Assembly to legislate to strengthen the community and town council sector. This is key to implementing outstanding recommendations from the 2003 Aberystwyth study into the Role, Functions and Future Potential of Community and Town Councils in Wales and will enable other improvements for the sector to be introduced. One Voice Wales is already booked to give evidence to the Assembly in October. Also, following a request by One Voice Wales, the Assembly has agreed to extend the deadline for comments to 30th September.

Wales could make its own laws to strengthen community and town councils

The powers would be given in the form of a Legislative Competence Order (LCO) which sets out news areas in which the Assembly can make legislation. The draft LCO was introduced into the Assembly by Dr Brian Gibbons, Minister for Social Justice and Local Government on 14th July (see Assembly Plenary Debate). The LCO will be now considered by an Assembly Legislation Committee and also the Welsh Affairs Select Committee on MPs in Westminster. A detailed legal examination of the proposed Order will also be conducted by the House of Lords’ Constitution Committee. As well as the order itself, the Assembly Government has also prepared an Explanatory Memorandum which explains the background and contents of the LCO. All references to community councils apply equally to town councils.

A summary of the LCO

If the LCO is approved by the Assembly and Parliament, it will add 10 new ‘matters’ into the field of local government in which the Assembly can make legislation. Specifically, these would be added into Schedule 5 of the Government of Wales Act (following matters 12.1 to 12.7) and can be summarised as follows:

Matter 12.8 - would give the Assembly the ability to alter the constitution, structure and procedures of local councils. This is welcomed as it will allow the Assembly to make it easier to form community councils and more difficult for them to be dissolved (fulfilling two of the agreed recommendations from the Aberystwyth Study).  It would also give the Assembly the power to legislate regarding youth representatives and co-option arrangements.
Matter 12.9 - would enable Wales to introduce legislation regarding electoral arrangements for community councils, such as warding arrangements and reviews of those arrangements. It would not include the power to change the franchise (who can vote) at community council elections or the voting system used.
Matter 12.10 – would enable the Assembly to extend the Power of Well-being to community councils (given to the unitary authorities in 2000). This is a very positive and wide-ranging power to support councils in enhancing the economic, social or environmental well-being of their areas. It would also replace the more restrictive Section 137 powers.
Matter 12.11 – would allow the Welsh Assembly Government to make direct grants to community councils, which might be used to supplement precept income in response to increasing activities of councils.
Matter 12.12 – would allow the Assembly to legislate to encourage better working relationships between the two tiers of local government, thus enabling the development of charters to become a statutory requirement. A number of unitary authorities are already working with their community and town councils to develop a charter on a voluntary basis but the inclusion of this matter within the LCO raises the issue up the agenda for all authorities.
Matter 12.13 – would enable the Assembly to introduce an accreditation scheme to recognise community councils that have achieved certain standards. The Quality Parish and Town Council Scheme operates in England and this would allow Wales to develop its own version if it so wished.
Matter 12.14 – would allow the Assembly to make it a requirement to advertise co-option opportunities openly within the local community (another outstanding recommendation from the Aberystwyth study). One Voice Wales already advises this as good practice.
Matter 12.15 – would enable the Assembly to legislate to encourage greater openness and accountability by way of the information provided on the activities of both unitary authorities and community councils. An example here would be the suggestion that county councillors should provide more information on their activities; One Voice Wales is not aware of any specific proposals relating to community councils.
Matter 12.16 – would give the Assembly competence over issues relating to salaries, allowances, pensions and other payments to members of unitary authorities, national park authorities, community councils and fire and rescue authorities. This would allow for the introduction of a basic allowance for community councillors as envisaged in the Aberystwyth study.
Matter 12.17 – would enable the Assembly to require unitary authorities and community councils to provide better support for councillors in order to help recruitment and retention of councillors. Again, this would be aimed principally at the unitary authorities.

As can be seen above, not all of these matters relate exclusively to community and town councils and the LCO will also enable other recommendations to be implemented. These include those from the Councillors Commission Expert Panel for Wales, on which One Voice Wales was represented, and the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales on county councillor allowances.

It’s worth stressing that the LCO is all about giving the Assembly the power to make legislation on the above matters and it doesn’t automatically follow that having the power means such legislation will be introduced. However, we do know that the Assembly Government is keen to implement the outstanding Aberystwyth recommendations and welcome the following comment made by the Minister when introducing the LCO: “The Assembly Government is committed to bringing forward proposals to develop and strengthen the role of community councils. The overall aim will be to increase the effectiveness of community councils in their functional and representational role, and to facilitate their ability to work in partnership with other bodies.”

Similarly, we welcome the comments of other political parties on the LCO. Darren Millar AM, Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, stated: “Town and community councils in particular often feel powerless to address the issues that matter in their localities. There is no doubt that their role needs to be enhanced and strengthened. That is why I am pleased to say that my party welcomes this proposed LCO. We look forward to scrutinising the details at committee stage.”

Plaid Cymru spokesperson for local government, Dai Lloyd AM commented: “When it comes to community councils, neither the Assembly nor the Welsh Ministers have powers at present to legislate over community councils, community reviews, relations between tiers of local government, council allowances and the recruitment and retention of councillors. In the absence of those powers, there is little we can do ... There is certainly a need to strengthen what town and community councils do.”

Peter Black AM, for the Lib Dems, stated: “The 2003 review into community councils ... was part of the commitments in the agreement between the Liberal Democrats and Labour, so I welcome that we are now going to try to get the powers to implement some of the outstanding proposals included in it.”

One Voice Wales has consistently lobbied for the outstanding recommendations from the Aberystwyth study, which were agreed by the Assembly Government, to be implemented. We know that efforts have been made but frustrations were experienced at Westminster due to timetabling issues. Consequently we very much welcome this move to extend powers to the National Assembly to enable the implementation of the Aberystwyth and other recommendations to proceed. Community and town councils have an important role to play in the design and delivery of Welsh public services and it makes sense that the powers to achieve this are given to Wales.

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