[Talk-GB] Parish Councils needs

[Mark Goodge]

On 26/10/2019 09:23, Colin Smale wrote:
> On 2019-10-26 09:58, Edward Bainton wrote:
> 
>> (copying the list in again)
>> Thank you. My understanding is that this parish council has had *all* 
>> street assets devolved to it: see here 
>> <https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/documents/s135418/Service%20Devolution%20and%20Asset%20Transfer%20Cabinet%20Report.pdf>. 
>>
> Where do you read that in the attached document? W.r.t. the public 
> highway as an asset, paragraph 8 basically rules out transfer, as 
> Wiltshire Council has a statutory role as Highways Authority. This 
> document relates to a Draft Policy, so it may or not actually happen 
> (dated Nov 2017). 
Street sweeping is unlikely to be delegated to parish councils, as the 
economy of scale doesn't work at that level - it needs a workforce and 
equipment inventory that's only cost-effective at city/district/borough 
level and above. Also, street cleansing is a statutory duty of principal 
councils under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, so it can't simply 
be delegated on a hands-off basis.

What does often happen in parishes is that public highways consisting 
solely of footways (eg, footpaths connecting housing estates) are 
cleaned by the parish under contract to the highway authority. Where the 
cleaning is done the old-fashioned way, by a man (or woman) with a 
broom, that makes sense, as the parish can be more responsive to local 
need and the street cleaners are themselves usually local residents who 
are familiar with their environment. But the overall responsibility 
still lies with the principal council.

> Dangerous paragraph 21 about funding for delegated services: the parish 
> council gets responsibility, without any additional money. They might be 
> lucky and get the freehold of a swimming pool (operated by a third 
> party) for example by way of compensation...

The way it works is that the parish council is expected to increase its 
council tax precept to cover the necessary costs, while the transferring 
council reduces its revenue budget (and hence precept) by the same 
amount. So it's cost-neutral, in theory, to the taxpayer, but the 
transferred service is subject to more local control.

In some cases that can actually work very well, and save money overall, 
because it eliminates a layer of management. But it only works where the 
service can effectively be managed at a local level.

Mark