Upskilling for localism

In this first in a new series of guest posts, academic James Derounian argues that parish councillors and clerks need training in order to make the most of localism:

When parish and town (local) councils were invented way back in 1894, who could have predicted that in 2012 (118 years later!) they would still exist, and have moved towards the centre of Government policy making?

The Localism Act 2011 presents local councils with a promise, but also an underlying threat: do things for your local communities – or else!

But have you noticed that in life, all the BIG things come without training or education – how do you learn to manage money, deal with puberty, relationships, bereavement?

We make it up as we go along, for better or worse. And so it is that local councillors and clerks are not, in the main, schooled in any sense for the role they take on. According to the 2009 Governance Toolkit for Parish & Town Councils, “parish councillors have a dual role:

- they represent the views and concerns of the residents of the parish to the parish council itself and, through it, to the district, county or unitary authority;

- they report back to residents on issues affecting the parish”.

So where and how do councillors learn about representing local views, establishing community concerns, and effectively linking with principal authorities? At the moment it’s totally hit and miss: you may have a member who is a journalist or gifted at communication; or perhaps they work in local government and know how the system works. On the other hand – if you’ve become a volunteer parish councillor – the likelihood is that you will not have all/some of the skills required. It would take a combination of diplomat/social worker/finance manager/accountant/community-development worker/personnel officer etc to cover the field.

So it seems incredible that in this age of new community rights, Big Society and localism, local councillors and clerks can apparently bumble along as before. Not to mention the fact that many (larger) councils are multi-million pound businesses – with councillors as board members.

For these reasons I would like to see compulsory induction training for all new local councillors. Once they are elected/co-opted they should be required to complete a distance learning course (with brief residential elements) similar to the Community Engagement & Governance courses delivered by the University of Gloucestershire for the past 20 plus years.

This would enable new councillors to study from work, their front room etc. And it would bring them up to date with things like the new planning regime, neighbourhood planning and the National Planning Policy Framework. It would also explain their responsibilities, both as councillors and as part of a council.

Other topics could include staff management, how to involve the community in decision-making, group work, correct procedures. In this way a degree of consistency would be introduced across England’s 9,000 local councils; and residents and constituents could have greater confidence that public money was being well used.

This age of (alleged) localism calls for greater professionalism if local councils are to shrug off the pejorative mantle of ‘parish pump politics’ and ‘that TV programme’.

This will not happen by magic or passive osmosis. It will take a conscious effort on the part of central and local governments, to train to ensure that they are fit for purpose in the 21st century. Hail continuous professional development!

James Derounian BSc (Hons) MPhil MRTPI FHEA FILCM is a Principal Lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire

A whistlestop tour – the return

Once again I’ve not kept a promise to myself to blog regularly. Hence I owe some thanks to some great tweeps like Dave Briggs, Carl Haggerty and Ellie Stoneley for nudging me along recently. So as a quick update since my last post, here’s another rollercoaster ride of events and stuff……

Our Chairman, Councillor Michael Chater, was awarded an OBE for services to local government in the New Year Honours……

……the All Party Parliamentary Group on local democracy met in April to discuss local economic development and the growing role played by parish and town councils which resulted in then applying pressure on the Government for a second round of Portas Pilots, then at their June meeting hosted a discussion on neighbourhood planning featuring contributions from the Housebuilders Federation, Campaign to Protect Rural England and John Howell MP as well as how two town councils were getting on with developing a neighbourhood plan

……’be confident and give it a go’ and ‘learn through doing were my top tips in a talk to my clerk colleagues on using social media and technology to improve communications and community engagement at the SLCC’s conference for larger councils in Chepstow……

……a true gent, champion for rural people and places and force for good – Defra’s Crispin Moor and @talk2crispin on Twitter – sadly lost his battle against cancer and will be sorely missed by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing ans working with him……

……after years of campaigning by NALC the general power of competence was introduced for eligible parish and town councils who meet certain democratic mandate and training tests……

……our series of three People in action conferences got underway in London, where delegates heard from a range of speakers and talked to each other about how localism is happening in their areas. Places are still available at the final event in Sheffield in September……

……to help our member local councils promote and maintain high standards and meet their obligations under the new Localism Act we published a template code of conduct……

……Question: What do the man from Del Monte, residents in Queen’s Park and Westminster City Council all have in common? Answer: they all say “Yes!” In the case of Queen’s Park local people over­whelmingly said “Yes” to plans to set up a historic new community council to help improve their area. We’ve been backing calls from residents in Queen’s Park to set up the first ever parish council in London and helping them and other areas through our Create a council campaign……

……our project with Campaign to Protect Rural England was a success overall and exceeded many of our targets – we received funding from Government through their supporting neighbourhoods and communities in planning programme – hence we were delighted to receive an extension to our work to be able to currently offer tailored help to parish and town councils……

……LCR is our flagship journal and the new Summer edition has an interview with the Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary as well as features on life as an urban parish councillor, parish councils saving and running libraries, how gadgets and technology can make councils more efficient, getting help with neighbourhood planning, pensions and more……

……our long standing campaign to reform outdated legislation governing payments by local councils looks close to a successful conclusion with Government consulting on changes to the rules……

……we issued a warning about the impact on communities of the Government’s proposals for the localisation of support for council tax contained in the Local Government Finance Bill……

As always there’s plenty more going on at the moment, least not gearing up for the forthcoming party conference season which starts next month. But more on that and other stuff in coming posts.

Next steps for neighbourhood planning?

So the Localism Act is now on the statute book but what are the next steps for one of its key components – neighbourhood planning? In this guest post, Crispin Moor from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) shares some of his thoughts:

Action for Market Towns (AMT) held a symposium last month for its members to discuss Land Use Planning reforms, especially neighbourhood level planning and views on the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). I was helping frame the discussion on these matters. And in this I was ably opposed by Ben Cowell from the National Trust who have been leading quite a noisy campaign against the Government’s NPPF consultation draft.

I was probably being quietly dismissed by many delegates as just the man from the ministry toeing a Treasury line, though I hope not. As the Prime Minister and other ministers have made very clear, this is not an exercise in concreting our countryside but in getting the balance right between our local and national economic development needs whilst still caring for and, yes, protecting our valued landscapes.

Certainly this is one formal consultation that the Government is taking and managing very properly and very seriously. Some of Defra’s priorities in this agenda include:

- the ongoing Rural Economy Growth Review and supporting the growth of our rural economies;
- sustainable development (of course);
- supporting policies in the Natural Environment white paper including for our protected areas (NPAs, AONBs, SSSIs and Local Wildlife Sites).

Whether the final NPPF will live up to the sometimes lofty demands of National Trust and Campaign to Protect Rural England members I really don’t know. But we should not lose sight of the fact that our planning system is what allows local societies to choose between different development options and paths – but without dodging their proper responsibilities in this area.

Neighbourhood planning and elected local councils and councillors are central to making this machine work as far as possible for the benefit of all.

So now that the Localism Bill is, finally, the Localism Act I do hope that many AMT members (as well as other networks) will make these new processes work well for their communities – working well with local councillors and councils and with local planning authorities.

There is not going to be an old fashioned dirigiste big state solution to local planning challenges. The Prime Minister, Communities and Local Government minister Greg Clark and other ministers (including in Defra) have made this crystal clear.

So good luck to all the neighbourhood forums, development trusts and especially local (parish and town) councils as they turn their excellent attentions to using these reforms to support positive local change and development.

Crispin Moor is from Defra’s Rural Communities Policy Unit

Local councils will be key to implementing new powers

Last week we held our annual conference for larger local (parish and town) councils. The sold out event included a panel discussion on localism and the new powers contained in the Localism Act, in particular the general power of competence. During this session our chief executive spoke about our take on the new powers for local communities, which we followed up with a letter to leading local government journal LGC to share our thinking more widely. An edited version of the letter was published yesterday as the letter of the week, the original text is below:

Local councils will be key to implementing new powers

The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) is the representative body for 9,000 local (community, neighbourhood, parish, town and village) councils.

We believe there has never been a more important time for local democracy. Local people have long felt a lack of ownership over decisions that affect their lives and where they live.

So there is real support for localism and our very local councils have a vital role in community action, representation and service delivery.

We believe that these very local councils can be an effective democratic community leader, encouraging communities and people to take advantage of the new planning, housing, community asset protection and development powers coming their way through the localism agenda.

Local communities will be better able to influence and control what is happening through public service delivery in their area. For example local councils can be at the heart of work with communities to develop neighbourhood plans. The new powers will make it easier for local councils to innovate, make use of assets and work with private sector.

These new powers will add to the extensive range of powers available and we expect this to make the creation of new local councils more attractive – we are already seeing steady growth in the number established, particularly in urban areas and with Queen’s Park, Westminster in line to be the first in London.

Alert principal authorities should be supporting these innovations including the creation of new councils, looking at how they can work better with our local councils and discuss how power and responsibilities can be devolved.

We want to reinvigorate local councils as the closest tier of government to people. The localism agenda is making the role of local councils exciting and vibrant and provides an exceptional opportunity to bring real power and responsibility back to local communities.

In praise of the village fete

Last week the Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles gave a speechurging faith groups to make use of new powers in the Localism Bill to end their reliance on the goodwill of local authorities and to play an active and visible role in society.

He used the speech to again set out what the Government was doing to help to overcome red tape and regulation that stands in their way of people getting more involved in local life. The link for more information is http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/newsroom/1924848

Now I thought this all somewhat timely as last weekend I took the family down to Lingfield in Surrey for the village church fete which was a fabulous example of local people – enabled by the church community – in action. This fun and well supported event has prompted the below guest post from Defra’s Crispin Moor – writing in a personal capacity – in praise of the village fete:

The humble village fete is repeated hundreds and hundreds of times usually every Saturday across rural Britain during the early summer. They are held on village greens and commons, in churchyards, in school playgrounds and playing fields, or sometimes in a field lent by a local landowner, even in the often large garden of a generous local resident. Such fetes raise funds for a variety of local causes such as local heritage, charitable and sporting projects. In my case in Lingfield – as in many other villages up and down the country – our annual church fete aims to raise money for the care and repair of our local church http://www.lingfieldparishchurch.org/

I understand that in Germany they have a voluntary local tax for the care and repair of church buildings – now there’s an idea! Back here in Blighty it’s more fun: you’re expected to attend the annual fete and spend your own money. Whether on the tombola, the bric-a-brac stall (anyone for more coasters!), at the silent auction, raffles, a variety of games and sideshows from ‘splat the rat’ to the coconut shy. And then there is often a barbeque and the quintessentially English beer tent.

Now village fetes are also excellent spaces for informal local democratic discourse! This means that local people have the chance to grab a few words with their locally elected representatives, be it the local MP, parish or town councillors or even district and county councillors. Often local public services will be represented at these community events, for example with a fire engine that toddlers (and their fathers even!) can peek inside; or by the local environmental services department to talk rubbish (quite literally) in terms of recycling and rubbish collections. Often you can find the local vicar out and about in the midst of his or her flock.

Local businesses are also a strong part of this local democratic mix donating silent auction and raffle prizes, as well as providing locally produced food and so on via the beer tent, the barbeque or at other stalls.

Much enjoyment and fun is had by all, especially local children, at village fetes up and down the land. And three cheers for that.

But the volunteer effort that goes into organising and managing these events every weekend is immense. Taken as a whole, the activity, energy, goodwill and resources produced by these many hundred fetes each year is very significant. These fetes are surely the Government’s Big Society approach very much in action. Some say, given the social benefit produced, it is a shame that the state does not do just that little bit more to reinforce some of the monetary value produced, for example by gift aiding the money raised. Or else, improving further the VAT regime applying to church repairs. This sort of thinking may lie behind the recommendation made by the Commission for Rural Communities and Respublica in their recent paper on ‘The Rural Big Society’ http://www.respublica.org.uk/articles/rural-big-society that Communities and Local Government, Defra and the Office for Civil Society should engage the Church of England and the other churches with significant assets in rural England to explore how these assets can better be used to secure Big Society objectives.

Amen to that!

Yet another whistlestop tour

This weekend sees #localgovcamp head back to Birmingham, the location of my very first unconference outing. I will be going along and returning to that scene – both the place and more particularly the people – which helped inspire and enthuse me on the digital front.

I mentioned the interesting, thought provoking and innovative people I met there last year in a previous post, which also included my quest to start blogging more regularly. Well, I tried, and I’ll keep trying, that’s all I can say.

But so as to pull my finger out in advance of the weekend and get the ball rolling again, I thought I’d provide another whistle-stop tour of some NALC and local councils stuff since my last post:

……in February we had a very productive meeting with Local Government Minister Bob Neill MP to discuss the role of local (parish and town) councils in the localism and Big Society agendas……in the past weeks/months I’ve spoken at numerous conferences and events such as an Ideas exchange organised by Westminster City Council for its officers about grassroots local democracy and community action; Kent County Council’s Listening to communities conference which discussed localism and the future of public service delivery; SLCC’s Practitioner’s Conference on Big Society and the role of local councils; and a West Midlands region event for county associations, rural community councils and principal authorities on participatory budgeting……I met with the Managing Director of LGID to put forward proposals for greater collaboration and support (fingers crossed!)……promoting and developing grassroots local democracy in Stoke-on-Trent were the subjects of a blog post I had published on Pits’n'Pots and an interview with 6townsradio……The Stag Community Arts Centre in Sevenoaks held a sponsors and supporters reception which I went to and heard first hand about the enabling role of the Town Council in keeping the facility going with critical support from an army of local volunteers……in April the Government announced that a partnership of NALC and CPRE had been chosen to take forward one of four national projects under their Supporting Communities and Neighbourhoods in planning project……we published new research into community governance reviews……to help our local councils raise awareness and promote democracy in the run up to the local council elections we published a range of useful resources on local councils and getting more people to stand for election……at an event in London our Vice Chairman, Councilllor Hazel Williams MBE, launched our first ever suite of e-learning courses aimed at helping and supporting our local councillors……I was chuffed that the leading local government journal LGC placed me as ‘one to watch’ on their esteemed #LGC50 list of most influential people in local government……following last year’s publication of our Power to the people toolkit on how to set up new local councils, this area of the website recently got a much needed revamp……the new summer edition of LCR, our flagship magazine, features an interview with Local Government Minister Andrew Stunnell MP, along with articles on community broadband and a great example of the Big Society in action in Sussex……and finally the first of our exciting Communities in Action conferences kicks off tomorrow with the Bristol leg and is packed full of timely and interesting plenary and workshop sessions.

So there we are, there’s loads of other stuff I could include but then it wouldn’t be a whistlestop tour!

Stand and deliver

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve got a lot of time for the tens of thousands of people up and down the country who get involved and make a difference in their community as local councillors. That’s a lot of people, in a lot of places, doing a whole lot of stuff. I for one salute them.

There are around 9,000 local (parish and town) councils in England and most have elections this year on May 5, giving more and more people the chance to step up and become a councillor.

We’ve plenty of information on our website at www.nalc.gov.uk about local councils and councillors with a whole bunch of new stuff being launched in the next couple of weeks. But back in December, at the launch of our new training and skills strategy in London, our senior elected members called for widespread promotion and action:

NALC Chairman, Councillor Michael Chater said: “Up and down the country there are already 80,000 brilliant local councillors doing brilliant things for their local area. But I totally agree with the Minister as I know there are more brilliant people out there with energy, passion, who know what needs doing and go out and do it. Many of these people have never thought about being a councillor and I urge them to make a small step to becoming a councillor which will make such a big difference to their local area.”

Councillor Hazel Williams MBE, NALC’s Vice Chairman added: “We are calling upon all tiers of local government – especially our own local councils – to do all they can to promote democracy and encourage more people to become councillors, particularly in the run up to local elections in May next year. I am urging local people of all colours, shapes and sizes to stand up, to be counted, to get involved, and to help make a difference.”

This week I received an update from my colleague Danny Moody, Chief Executive of our county association in Northamptonshire on their efforts to promote local democracy in the county.

Do you want to do something positive for your community?

Can you think, listen and act locally?

Do you want to do spend your time productively?

These were the powerful and inspiring messages scrolling across the homepage of the brilliant new website – www.stand-and-deliver.com – they’ve developed to spearhead their aptly titled Stand and Deliver campaign.

So I thought it timely to invite Danny to write a guest post on my blog about local councillors and share some of his thoughts on holding public office at a very local level:

Unpaid – yes. Volunteers – no

Big Society demands that individuals contribute a bigger share – but that doesn’t have to mean in a voluntary capacity, nor should it mean that those individuals that are not strictly speaking volunteers are excluded from the opportunities that Big Society presents. I often hear local councillors referred to as volunteers. Sadly I hear this from both outside and within our tier of local government, sometimes even from councillors themselves. I’m particularly agitated when I hear it used in a derogatory way – “parish councils can’t do much, they’re just volunteers”, or from within as an excuse – “how can we be expected to know what the law says, we’re only volunteers”.

For my money a local councillor is an elected public figure, not a volunteer. After all, you wouldn’t describe your local MP as a volunteer would you? I am aware of various official definitions of ‘volunteering’ and can see that it is a grey area and open to interpretation. Interestingly, one source I read suggests that the definition should be based on the viewpoint of the individual – in other words you are a volunteer if you feel like you are volunteering. I would suggest that if a councillor feels like a volunteer they haven’t properly grasped the concept of councillorship.

Choosing not to be paid is not the same as volunteering, so here we have the first bit of evidence that councillors are not volunteers. Under the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 all local councils may pay to councillors a Parish Basic Allowance, subject to certain conditions. For the most part local councils do not avail themselves of this facility and even for those councils that do operate a scheme it is not uncommon for individual councillors to waive their allowance or arrange for it to be donated elsewhere. However the fact that councillors may legally receive remuneration if they chose to takes them out of most common definitions of the term ‘volunteer’.

There are further factors that help to draw a distinction between formal volunteers and elected local councillors as outlined in the table below:

	Volunteer	Local Councillor
Method of joining organisation	May normally join at any time.  Normally no restriction on numbers.  No formal process although some organisations have a selection/approval process.	Statutory process for elections.  Fixed number of seats on council.  Can only join at election time or when a casual vacancy arises.
Tenure	No fixed term.  Individuals free to come and go.  Some organisations may fix a term of office for particular roles (such as chairman or treasurer).	Fixed term (4 years) but may seek re-election.  Councillors may resign or be disqualified but are otherwise not obliged to relinquish office before the end of their term.
Remuneration	Unpaid, but travel and out-of-pocket expenses may be met by the organisation.	Access to Parish Basic Allowance if the council chooses it.  Travel expenses met by the council.
Attendance at meetings	Discretionary, although the nature of volunteering results in high levels of engagement.	Councillors receive a statutory summons to a meeting so have a legal obligation to attend if they are able to.
Sanctions	Organisations may develop rules that individuals are requested to observe.  Failure to do so may result in the individual being barred from the organisation	Councillors operate within a statutory framework and to a Code of Conduct.  Breaches of the Code may result in a councillor being investigated and held to account for their actions.
Powers	Depends on the organisation and the individual’s role within it.  Some volunteer roles can have high influence and importance.	A councillor has no individual power beyond that of the corporate body but is engaged in decision making that incurs expenditure from the public purse.

 

So the mantra should be ‘councillors may give freely of their time but are not volunteers’. Principal authorities and other key partners must see our local councillors as equals in local government and do away once and for all with the ‘Dibley’ image. Local councils though, for their part, must rise to the challenge and strive to achieve ever higher levels of professionalism and knowledge. As a councillor you didn’t volunteer, you subjected yourself to the scrutiny of public election, you were elected and now you serve those that elected you. You hold public office and shoulder the responsibility that goes along with that. You have statutory duties and obligations and, like all public officials, are accountable to those that elected you. And for local councillors, unlike Members of Parliament, those that elected you may often be your friends, neighbours and close associates within your community. So I can’t think of any role in public life that has greater accountability or, indeed, responsibility.

The opportunities for councillors, in all tiers of local government, to contribute to Big Society are clear. But local councils can be the spider at the centre of the Big Society web, spinning together the public, private and third sector strands. After all, it’s what good local councils have already been doing for more than a hundred years.

Danny Moody is Chief Executive of the Northamptonshire County Association of Local Councils

Big Society and community organisers

A few weeks ago I attended and participated in the national conference of the Society of Local Council Clerks in Durham. We work closely with the SLCC – who are the professional body for around 8,000 local council clerks – and whose national conference is always for me a highlight of the autumn conference season. I find conferences and events such a valuable opportunity to network and catch up with lots of people – and this year’s event was no different. It was great to natter to clerks from councils of all shapes and sizes and parts of the country, plus loads of other people who were there such as Sir Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO and Learning Pool’s Dave Briggs.

Two people I always enjoy bumping into – and talking all things local democracy, community development and public services – are Elisabeth Skinner and James Derounian from the University of Gloucestershire. We have form with the University, in a good way, as they have made a massive and positive contribution to developing and delivering our National Training Strategy, as well being a flag waver for rural community development. One particular conversation with James over the course of the weekend focussed on localism and the Big Society and in particular community organisers. So I invited him to write a guest post to share some of his thoughts. Here it is.

Question: What is the difference between a community development worker and a community organiser?

Answer: Ask me in a couple of months!

Of course, famously, President Obama was a community organiser in Chicago. And, as interpreted by Prime Minister David Cameron, a UK community organiser can “bring communities together, help people start their own neighbourhood groups, and give communities the help they need to take control and tackle their problems.”

Under Big Society plans there are to be “5,000 full-time, professional community organisers who will be trained” – my University should be rubbing its hands! At face value this is a welcome boost to the community development/engagement workforce. Not least as many community development staff are already casting about for new jobs as public sector cuts start to bite and local authorities ditch non statutory work. So potentially community development workers could get their P45 on Friday and start as a new community organiser the following Monday!

But here’s the rub: there are still lots of unanswered questions about Big Society in general and community organisers in particular. They appear to be outsiders brought in to help a community, but then again they may in addition/instead come from the specific community. Are they paid or unpaid? How long are they engaged for, permanent contracts or the usual short-termism? And then there’s the history, as I do wonder if anyone in Government has actually read the work of US community organiser guru Saul Alinsky, in particular his 1971 handbook ‘Rules for Radicals’. On page 100 Alinsky argues that the “job of the organizer is to maneuver & bait the establishment so that it will publicly attack him as a ‘dangerous enemy’” – oh really?! I wonder if this is quite what the Coalition Government has in mind. Or how about organisers fanning “the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression” on page 116?

On the other hand, Alinsky does offer valuable insights in pursuit of the Big Society: “ideal elements of an organiser” according to him include “curiosity, irreverance, imagination, sense of humour, a bit of a blurred vision of a better world, an organized personality, a well-integrated political schizoid, ego, a free and open mind, and political relativity, creating the new out of the old”. And in pole position he places ‘communication’.

What is clear, however, is the point that pundit, politician & journalist, Michael Portillo made in his address to the SLCC conference:

In relation to the Big Society and community organisers it is beholden on us “to write the blank pages”….those interested in democracy, society, mutuality and service have a real chance to mould what comes to pass. If we stride on to the ‘pitch’, we can play the ‘game’, if we do that then we stand at least some chance of scoring!

Let’s get stuck in.

James Derounian is a Principal Lecturer in Community Development and Local Governance at the University of Gloucestershire

Big Society #4: The importance of good governance

To quote the now infamous line during the General Election TV debates:  ’I agree with Nick’. Except in this case it’s not Nick, it’s Rory – more specifically Rory Stewart, the new MP for Penrith and the Border and Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on local democracy.

NALC is currently working with the Group – whose purpose is to promote grass roots local democracy and community governance – to highlight the important contribution of local councils to community empowerment, localism and Big Society through fringe events at the three main political party conferences.

Last week’s fringe event at the Liberal Democrat Party conference in Liverpool saw the launch of a new new policy pamphlet – What is localism? – featuring a series of essays by parliamentarians and other key thinkers on what they think localism means to local councils.

In the pamphlet Rory Stewart MP comments on the critical role of local councils in the Big Society:

“….everything – from organising communities to building affordable housing or generating renewable energy, or taking over a community centre, or rolling out broadband across the fells of Cumbria – needs a democratic body. If a community draws up its own planning regulations, giving it the final say on what can be built and where, that plan must be approved democratically and this should require a parish or group of parishes.”

Hence the agreement with Rory. Local councils – of all sizes, big and small -have an important role to play in Big Society. And other contributors to the pamphlet equally agree on the vital role played by local councils and their army of councillors.

But to follow up Rory’s point about the importance of democracy and greater power bringing greater responsibility – part of that responsibility is about good governance. Local councils may be democratically elected (be it through elections or co-option) but they still need to get the basics right to be able to do their job effectively.

That’s where minimum standards as promoted through the current Quality Parishes Scheme become so important. What all local councils have in common is a commitment to their local communities and the Scheme encourages demonstrating to local people that they are representative, in touch with the community, competent, and also capable of taking on an enhanced role.

All organisations need skilled and trained staff. Likewise good communications and community engagement need to be at the heart of any civic and civil society organisation. Robust and proportionate financial controls are a given, as should be good conduct and behaviour by decision makers – in this case those councillors who admirably volunteer their time but hold public office.

These are some of the underpinning principles and philosophy behind the Quality Parishes Scheme: it’s not rocket science and all local councils should be aiming to meet these most basic minimum standards.

But there still needs to be greater support and recognition of the importance of minimum standards, good governance and working toward and achieving Quality status, and at all levels – by Government, MP’s, principal authorities, local councils themselves and by communities in general.

There is at present a real opportunity to unlock the potential of local councils to play a greater role at community and neighbourhood level, to facilitate and enable more voluntary activity and involvement in decision making and also to improve their productivity and effectiveness. To deliver the Big Society local councils will more than ever need to have the confidence that their house is in order. A commitment to minimum standards is an important way of increasing the profile, as well as improving the reputation and perception, of this bit of grassroots community governance and action already making a real and positive difference in local communities.

Being effective, modern and fit for purpose – the core principles advocated through the Quality Parishes Scheme – is more than just about ticking a box. It’s about an attitude of mind of being as effective as possible and getting the basics right.

On that point, perhaps Rory and many others would agree.

Crispin Moor is one of the Directors of the Commission for Rural Communities

Justin Griggs is Head of Policy and Development at the National Association of Local Councils

The Big Society #3: The community right to build – do we know if it will work?

The Big Society reform that has currently got lots of discussion and confusion swirling around it is the Government’s plan to introduce a ‘Community right to build’. All the ambitions sound, in both Big Society and localism terms, spot on. The big and radical idea is that if a community agrees that it wants to develop and it can secure proof of support through a local referendum, then it can get on with it, without the need for planning consent.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps says that these reforms will “shift power from Government to communities to allow local people to deliver the homes and development that they really want, without being told that their own expansion doesn’t fit with their local council’s plans.” He also says that “”Far from the Nimbyism that often hits the headlines, up and down the country there are entire communities willing and eager to give the go-ahead for new developments in their area. The countryside must be a vibrant place to live, and cannot be allowed to become a museum”.

But a central part of the proposals are that they go ahead only when the level of local support achieved in a local referendum is at the 90% mark. It is not clear why the threshold is so high. Or indeed the democratic theory that allows a minority to block what could be a large majority view within a village community.

And because of this issue there is scepticism in some quarters. A good example comes from Brian Green in his ‘building blog’. He has some robust views that others have voiced more tentatively and politely. His nub of the matter view is that these proposals are ‘a charter of rights for NIMBYs’. He argues that “The more expensive the housing stock is in the ‘neighbourhood’ the more reasons there are to …  say ‘no’ to development. What is more, people who now live in desirable areas would under these policies have a further incentive to stop new homes being built in their neighbourhood. It will raise the price of their homes and show prospective buyers that the neighbourhood is “not for building”. That’s worth at least £30,000 on the price of a house in many of England’s more pleasant spots.”

So, it looks like an interesting experiment. Although we hope there’s more evidence backing up this policy than we’ve seen to date. Perhaps for many places it would be best to stick with the existing, imperfect, planning system rather than go down this ‘right to build route’, with all its risks and opportunity costs? But we certainly don’t want to be accused of semi-inverted “metropolitan snobbery”, as Decentralisation Minister, Greg Clark, painted critics of these planning reforms in his speech to the Royal Town Planning Institute in June!

We think that when these reforms come out in the wash at the local level, it will often be the role, and the responsibility, of local (parish and town) councils and their committed volunteer councillors to make planning work positively for local places. As the National Association of Local Councils has pointed out these reforms may be missing out on the potential and important role of local councils. NALC argues that where a community brings forward any development scheme it should be granted because it:

• has the support of the local (parish and town) council and the community, on the basis of a high quality community led plan;
• shows evidence of need;
• is of suitable scale and size, with no overwhelming site constraints on drainage, archaeology, and biodiversity.

This view, shared by Action for Communities in Rural England, is arguably both more radical and more pragmatic, as it is rooted in existing institutions and in representative democracy.

Much of the detail of the Government’s proposals will be seen later on, especially in the eagerly awaited Localism Bill in the autumn. But these questions do need to be sorted out – and soon. The risks of continuing confusion and more importantly of depressing the development of much needed local affordable housing, needs to be addressed.

So it is good to see that the Communities and Local Government select committee is to undertake an inquiry (partly) into this subject. Some scrutiny and questioning of the Government’s intentions will be helpful in clarifying how these reforms will work in practice. And we hope that this will include a stronger and more defined role for local councils.

It’s also worth noting that the Rural Coalition will be publishing its recommendations to Government (central and local) and others on these matters on 16 August, details should be on the CRC’s website on that date. The coalition, headed up by Matthew Taylor, is advising the Government on ways to foster more proactive local planning, stronger community involvement, delivery of more affordable housing and encouraging more new businesses opportunities. With a broad membership including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Country Land and Business Association, Local Government Association, Royal Town Planning Institute, Town and Country Planning Association as well ACRE, its views should carry some weight. One would hope.

Crispin Moor is one of the Directors of the Commission for Rural Communities

Justin Griggs is Head of Policy and Development at the National Association of Local Councils