Tag Archives: localism act

Council Tax referendums: power to the people?

Posted on by

ballot box

Since the 2012-13 financial year, council tax increases beyond the government’s limit can trigger local referendums. But are they having an impact on policy?

The Council Tax: before and after localism

Local government spending in Great Britain is paid for by three main sources:

  • central government
  • business rates
  • council tax

The council tax pays for about a quarter of all local services. However, cuts in funding from central government have put pressure on local authorities trying to maintain and improve services. As a result, in recent years many councils have been forced to impose council tax rises. This in turn has generated opposition from local residents and charges from central government that the increases are excessive.

Previously, if ministers believed that local authorities were increasing taxes excessively they had the power to cap council tax rises. However, in 2010, the Conservative general election manifesto promised to give residents the power to veto excessive council tax increases. The measure was included in the coalition government’s programme for government and introduced in the Localism Act of 2011.

The thresholds for council tax rises

The Localism Act, which applies only in England, gives local communities the power to decide on council tax increases above a certain limit.  The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government determines this limit, which has to be approved by the House of Commons.

If a local authority proposes to raise taxes above the limit they must obtain approval from local voters in a referendum.

For the 2016-17 financial year, the government proposed the following thresholds:

  • local authorities with social care responsibilities – 4% (an extra 2% to fund social care)
  • district councils, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), fire and rescue authorities and the Greater London Authority (GLA): 2%
  • Districts and PCCs whose council tax level is in the lowest quartile of their type of authority may raise council tax by up to £5.00 on a Band D bill (which may be a greater rise than 2%).

This means, for example, that a local authority with social care responsibilities wishing to raise its council tax above 4% would have to organise a referendum on the proposed increase. In addition, the authority would have to make substitute calculations that would take effect if the proposed increase is rejected in the referendum.

Triggering a referendum

In March 2016, a survey by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA) found that many councils are set to increase council tax close to the 3.99% maximum allowed under the referendum cap.

Few councils have so far set council taxes at a level that would trigger a referendum.

In 2015, the Green Party on Brighton and Hove Council failed to secure backing from the other parties for a 5.99% council tax rise. A settlement of 1.99% was eventually agreed, but the Greens said a bigger rise would have helped protect services for the elderly, adults in care, children and those living below the poverty line.

Bedfordshire says “No”

In May 2015, residents in Bedfordshire became the first in the country to vote in a referendum triggered by a decision to raise the council tax. The county’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Olly Martins, increased the amount of the council tax for Bedfordshire Police by 15.84% compared to the previous year. He claimed that the increase would provide funds for more police officers.

However, the rise was rejected by almost 70% of voters, and the council had to issue new bills based on the lower increase of 1.99%.

Mr Martins said the result would mean a reduction of up to 135 uniformed officers from the existing 1,067. He also raised concerns about the rules on the wording on referendum ballot papers and awareness-raising during the campaign.

But Richard Fuller, the Conservative MP for Bedford claimed that the £350,000 spent on holding the referendum, and the £250,000 for re-billing meant that Mr Martins had shown “incredibly poor judgement”.

Here to stay

With only one council tax referendum to consider, it’s still too early to assess the impact such polls may have on policy. However, the costs and time-consuming nature of organising referendums of this kind may be acting as a deterrence to raising council tax bills above the referendum cap.

The government remains committed to the policy of council tax referendums, and has suggested that it could be extended to parish councils. In March 2014, the Labour Party confirmed that there were no plans to abolish the referendum principles. However, there is no guarantee that this will be the party’s policy going into the next general election.

For the foreseeable future, council tax referendums are here to stay.

Follow us on Twitter to keep up-to-date with developments in public and social policy currently interesting our research team.

Neighbourhood planning – the current state of play

Posted on by

communitygroup

By Alan Gillies

Following the May 2015 General Election, the only Conservative minister to be replaced in the resulting cabinet reshuffle was Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The appointment in his place of Greg Clark, dubbed “the architect of localism” and the person who “invented neighbourhood planning”, reinforces the government’s commitment to the neighbourhood planning system. Just a few weeks later the Queen’s speech confirmed that there would be legislation with provisions “to simplify and speed up the neighbourhood planning system, to support communities that seek to meet local housing and other development needs through neighbourhood planning”.

The Localism Act 2011

The neighbourhood planning system was introduced by the Localism Act in 2011. At that time Greg Clark was the minster responsible for the legislation’s passage through Parliament. He described it then as “as a powerful option [for communities] to come together and decide, collectively, what their neighbourhood should look like in future; where new shops and offices should go; and which green spaces are most important to the community.” (Clark, 2011)

The Act gives residents and businesses in a neighbourhood the option to do two things: create a neighbourhood development plan for their area; propose that a particular development or sort of development should automatically get planning permission in their area (neighbourhood development order/community right to build order). Neighbourhood plans must be subject to a public consultation period, expert examination and a local referendum. But once passed at referendum, local planning authorities are required to adopt the plan and give it weight, along with the local plan and national planning policy, in determining planning applications.

Progress so far

Earlier this year the government celebrated the milestone of fifty neighbourhood development plans passing the referendum stage. However, the fifty or so plans already approved are just the tip of the iceberg. In total around 1,400 communities are now involved at one stage or another in the formal neighbourhood planning process.  6.1 million people in England live in a designated ‘neighbourhood area’ (i.e. one formally designated as an area to be covered by a neighbourhood plan) – representing around 11% of the population. But, of course, that still means that 89% of the population is not yet involved.

Going forward

Whether this level of activity can be regarded as satisfactory progress and evidence of a real public appetite for neighbourhood planning depends on your point of view. But either way, the neighbourhood planning process represents a new mechanism for involving and empowering more people in the difficult decisions that the planning system has always faced – which can surely only be a good thing for those who become involved. And with the new government reiterating its importance, and a new minister in place who sees it as fundamental to localism, neighbourhood planning is here to stay.

The challenge, and legal requirement, for planners is to provide support to neighbourhoods to become involved.

References

Clark, Greg. A licence to innovate, IN MJ magazine, 17 Nov 2011, p15

 

If you are interested in research, opinion and comment on planning, we have launched a special subscription offer to the Idox Information Service for RTPI Members.

As well as access to our database and current awareness service, members receive special briefings on key topics. Recent briefings for members have covered:

 

The fall and rise of strategic planning

Posted on by
Image from Flickr user Sebastian Niedlich, licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons License

Image from Flickr user Sebastian Niedlich, licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons License

By Morwen Johnson

Throughout the history of planning there has been a continuing morphing of ideas and practices – reflecting changing circumstances, fashions and understandings about the role of planning in a modern society. Now it seems that recent economic and investment constraints are leading to a rise in interest in strategic planning again within the UK.

Professor Greg Lloyd, in a recent piece in our journal Scottish Planning and Environmental Law, suggests that this builds on the experiences of land-use planning (a British notion) and spatial planning – drawing on an emergent tradition in European terms. It seems obvious that the challenges of economic growth, housing need and environmental improvement do not respect the arbitrary boundaries of local authorities, or the short-term lifecycles of our political systems. And yet the effective implementation of strategic planning practice remains elusive.

A recent RTPI policy paper advocated a strengthening of strategic planning to secure greater co-operation with respect to development and to facilitate city regions. This comes as local authorities are now required, under the Localism Act, to co-operate and take a lead on addressing issues that cross boundaries and impact on the ‘larger than local’ area.

Professor Lloyd points out that within Scotland, the emphasis on strategic planning has been more consistent over time, and formed the backbone of governance for land use and development within Scottish planning practice. Within the London context of course, the Mayor is responsible for London’s planning at a strategic level, as set out in the London Plan. And Janice Morphet, in a recent article, argued that planning is “fundamentally concerned with delivery, based on social economic and environmental principles” and the current shift in scale towards combined authorities and neighbourhoods may “herald a bright future” for strategic spatial planning.

Contemporary strategic planning is therefore under the spotlight as a delivery solution to complex problems. The RTPI suggests that done well, strategic planning offers an efficient process for responsive, deliberative, collaborative and accountable decision-making. However this requires the planning profession to demonstrate skills of analysis, interpretation, risk assessment and visioning of place, as well as community engagement and facilitation skills. It also raises potential conflict in terms of planner’s roles as employees working in the public interest, as opposed to advocates for communities.

Inevitably strategic planning requires trade-offs between different interests and stakeholders. But successfully negotiating these diverse interests is not something that happens by chance. And the planning profession needs to recognise the key role they play in mitigating these tensions. If we are to have planning systems which support quality placemaking and long-term sustainability (as well as economic growth), then process cannot be an end in itself. Planners should take this opportunity to provide leadership, and enable dialogue on strategic planning, at local, sub-regional and national level.

Further reading

New lexicons of planning. Greg Lloyd, Scottish Planning and Environmental Law, No 168 Apr (2015)

Strategic planning: a bright future ahead. Janice Morphet, Town and Country Planning, Vol 84 No 4 (2015)

Strategic planning: effective co-operation for planning across boundaries. Royal Town Planning Institute (2015)

The demise of strategic planning? The impact of the abolition of Regional Spatial Strategy in a growth region. Martin Boddy and Hannah Hickman, Town Planning Review, Vol 84 No 6 (2013)

If you are interested in research, opinion and comment on planning, we have launched a special subscription offer to the Idox Information Service for RTPI Members.