Localism Bill 'by-passes councils' - Beecham
The Localism Bill should be renamed “the Populism (Councillor and Town Hall By-Pass and Buck Passing) Bill,” according to shadow local government minister Lord Beecham, quoted in the Local Government Chronicle.
Expressing a profound concern that the bill will severely weaken the powers of local councils, he targeted particularly
- the proposals for introducing more directly elected mayors, which he said showed an unrealistic expectation of the electorate’s enthusiasm to vote in local elections
- implementing referendums on excessive council tax rises
- ignoring the value of councils’ scrutiny functions. He claimed that the bill’s focus on scrutiny being to hold the executive to account was too “adversarial” and risked the positive effects scrutiny could have on policy making
On the first of these proposals, he described the government as “taking the unprecedented step of proposing to convert existing council leaders into shadow mayors with full mayoral powers, like some mediaeval alchemist turning base metal into gold…
“The real heart of the bill appears to rest on the twin [sic.] assumptions that there is an insatiable appetite on the part of citizens for voting.”
Lord Beecham, however, welcomed the proposed introduction of a power of general competence for councils.
- Beecham slams bill for undermining councils (log-in required)
14 January 2011
