Parish councils will be allowed to take control of libraries

Concerns have been raised that parish councils may be unable or unwilling to cope with new responsibilities promised by the Government.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced this week that such local authorities – of which there are almost 300 in Kent – will be allowed to impose parking charges, take over leisure centres and even revoke strip club licences.

They will also be able to take control of libraries, local museums and parks.

However, the plans have raised concerns that many parish councils may be ill-equipped to cope with new powers without the same expertise available to district, borough and county councils.

Terry Martin, county secretary of the Kent Association of Local Councils, said: “Parish and town councils should be at the heart of localism. Being the closest tier of local government to the community, they should be enabled to take on more public service delivery if they wish to in collaboration with local people.

“Many councillors will welcome being given more responsibility but they will also be concerned at whether their council will have the resources, skills and technical support available to them to be able to do so.

“Local councils’ strengths are in front-of-house local services which are essential to their local community.”

Mr Martin added that it was “imperative” parish councils remain apolitical, following concerns the main parties may field more candidates in parish council elections if it means they can gain even more decision-making powers.

The proposals announced by Mr Cameron are contained in a White Paper which aims to open up nearly all public sector services to competition from the private and voluntary sector.

He said it was the first step on the road to a “better, fairer country” in which people enjoy more choice, less bureaucracy, improved services and equal access for rich and poor.

Stephen Plumb, chairman of Iwade Parish Council near Sittingbourne, welcomed the bottom-up approach to decision-making but said organisations like his would still need help on a wide range of issues.

He said: “Individual councils may have members who have expertise in certain areas, but sometimes they will not. It all depends on what particular issues we will be asked to decide on, because we don’t want to make the wrong decisions based on ignorance.

“There will still be instances when we will need the experts to explain the bigger picture because while we might come up with what we feel is the obvious solution to a particular problem, there may be technical reasons as to why that might not work.”