An examination of the issues, lack of reform and international comparisons are out of the way. So it’s time to get to the “meat” of local government and look in more detail at options for reform or, indeed, keeping things as they are.
Some of you will be waiting for the money stuff and the politics (i.e. number of councillors), but I’ve decided to look these separately:
Starting at the bottom and working upwards, here’s what could happen at community level – currently the responsibility of town & community councils (where they exist).
- Concerns from Audit Wales and others about the financial administration of some town & community councils, with several high-profile cases of fraud and/or mismanagement.
- The lack of a clear role for the town & community council sector.
- The presence of “micro-councils” that can hold meetings but do little else because their patch and precepts are so small.
- The absence of town & community councils in around a quarter of Welsh community areas.
- The struggle to find willing candidates to stand for town & community councils, as well as a high-turnover of members due to its voluntary nature.
- Disproportionate election results caused by the first-part-the-post system.
- Large numbers of uncontested seats at town & community council level render “elections” an appointment process. This isn’t helped by a low councillor: elector ratio which suggests there are too many community council seats more generally.
- The unrealistic expectations of unitary authorities and the Welsh Government that the town & community council sector – in its current state – can and must take on responsibility for local services and assets through community asset transfer before they’re ready to do so.
- Infighting and a lack of professionalism in some town & community councils due to increased politicisation, as well as a failure of some members to accept their collective responsibilities as corporate bodies.
Have there been any moves to address these?
There’s been limited progress; perhaps not going as far as it should.
The Welsh Government and Senedd have placed faith in the more competent town & community councils by introducing a “general power of competence” and also introducing a requirement for properly qualified clerks.
While they’re doing all this in anticipation of town & community councils taking on a bigger role in providing services (to save the unitary authorities’ money), many – even the supposedly “big” town & community councils – aren’t ready for it.
A review of the sector was undertaken in 2018 (pdf) and its key recommendations included:
- Town & Community Councils should be retained and, ideally, established across all of Wales.
- There should be a boundary review of community councils.
- “Place-based services” – those services that can vary from place to place to meet specific local needs (i.e. cemeteries, cultural services like libraries, parks, playgrounds and allotments) – should be the responsibility of community councils, while the 22 unitary authorities retain control over people-based services (i.e. schools, social services, highways maintenance, environmental health).
- Clerks should be expected to be properly qualified and training should be mandatory for all community councillors and community council staff.
- Community councils should publish an annual report.
Other than the last two, nothing much else has happened.
Plaid Cymru has previously proposed merging community councils down from ~730 to around 150 (roughly one for every 20,000 people) and granting them additional powers over economic development and regeneration.
Former Liberal Democrat MS, Peter Black, has been outspoken on the need to strengthen the community council sector. Even Labour – as the Welsh Government – have proposed rationalisation of town & community councils in the past, though that went quiet when wider local government reform proposals were dropped.
The Conservatives haven’t, as far as I can tell, proposed anything regarding town & community council reform – though they do support community-developed neighbourhood plans and co-production. In 2021, Gwlad supported community council mergers and delegating additional consultation powers.
What are the possible options?
Having looked at how things are done in some of our peer countries (and others not mentioned), there are at least six options – which will be explored in greater detail later.
- Community Meetings – Used in some US states (i.e. Massachusetts, New Hampshire) where they’re usually called town hall meetings; also in some of the smaller Swiss municipalities.
- Community/Neighbourhood Associations – Used in most US states; also similar to community leagues in Edmonton, Canada and the chonaikai in Japan. Wales has its own residents’ associations and alike – albeit they’re not considered to be an official tier of local government.
- Area Committees – Used in some English cities (Bristol, Sheffield, Hull, Cambridge). They’re similar to the neighbourhood partnerships that have been/are being used in Cardiff and they’re also used in the Republic of Ireland.
- Town & Community Councils – What we have now, but also used (though the names may differ) in Scotland, England, New Zealand and France (communes). They usually provide lower-level/place-based services to their communities.
- Municipal Councils (one option with a Mayor, one option without) – This appears to be the most common form of governance at the community level, with a council covering a single urban area or rural district providing most place-based and some people-based services. It’s currently used in Australia, Netherlands, Germany (Gemeinden), Finland, Iceland and – as mentioned in Part IV – Canada and Denmark.
In summary, the options look something like this:
