Councils to get fresh law powers

English councils will get the power to bring in bylaws with fixed penalties without Whitehall approval under plans to increase local communities’ powers.

The proposed shake-up would bring in more mayors and elected leaders, with police, health and education bosses to face greater scrutiny from the public.

Local inquiries on issues such as hospital closures and drug dealing could begin if there was public demand.

Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly will give more details of the ideas later.

They are to be published in a White Paper which comes during the comprehensive review of local government finance, led by Sir Michael Lyons. He is due to report to ministers in December.

‘Recast’ relationship

“Rather than the government having to approve every single local bylaw, it should be local people that decide whether they want a particular law tackling anti-social behaviour,” Ms Kelly said.

People should also be “able to go out and impose an instant fine if someone breaks that”, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The plans would “recast” the relationship between local and central government in England and introduce “strong, visible local leadership”, she added.

In Wales, powers would be handed over to the national assembly.

Tory peer Lord Bruce-Lockhart, who chairs the Local Government Association, said he hoped the plans would lead to improvements in towns and cities.

“We would do much better if local authorities had the kind of transport, planning and housing powers enjoyed across Europe,” he told BBC News 24.

“In Europe, we’ve seen that the gross domestic product of the major cities is now twice that of the cities in the UK. They have that devolved political autonomy, we do not.”

‘Welcome change’

Sir Jeremy Beecham, Labour’s leader on the association, claimed local authorities spent too much time reporting to the government, rather than their residents.

The White Paper proposed a “welcome change” in the relationship between central and local government, he said.

“Local people will only have a bigger say in how the services they use are run if there is radical reform and devolution of powers.

“That means giving councils greater freedom to serve their communities, scrapping the council tax and replacing it with fair taxes raised and spent locally, and introducing fair votes – as has been done in Scotland.”

Meanwhile Dermot Finch, of the Centre for Cities research unit, said towns and cities should get more power to raise and spend business tax locally to invest in transport and skills.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/6084998.stm

Published: 2006/10/26 10:11:07 GMT

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