Marlborough’s town councillors have voted to adopt the new ‘General Power of Competence’ that is enshrined in the government’s localism legislation. This gives the council “the power to anything that individuals may generally do” as long as they do not break other laws.
The council can lend or invest money, set up a company or a co-operative society to trade and engage in commercial activity, run a community shop or post office…and so on.
Marlborough town council is eligible to use these new powers because more than two thirds of its members are elected (the council has two co-opted members) and the town clerk, Mrs Shelley Parker, has the appropriate qualifications.
No council enterprise will make a ‘profit’, but any surplus made will be ploughed back into council services.
Supporting the adoption, Councillor Cook said: “It’s a great opportunity for us – in the light of the cuts and localism. We’re going to be given the freedom to run services – if we get a surplus we can do other things.”
The powers are very broad: the council could lend money to support a local activity and earn interest on the loan, or they could buy shares in a struggling local enterprise.
There are risks. The official guidance says: “While councils are being encouraged to be innovative they should be aware of the risk of being challenged, of their trading activities damaging other competing local enterprise and of damage to the council’s reputation and public money if a project goes wrong.”
Wiltshire Council’s budget for 2015-2016 shows the first real signs of the coming reduction to the level of service
