Mornington Crescent: The Taunton variation

[The original version of this article was first published in The Clerk Magazine (SLCC), July 2023]

Readers will no doubt be familiar with Hans Christian Andersen’s tale ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’.  You may recall the story of an Emperor and legions of courtiers proudly and publicly proclaiming the finest of (imaginary!) clothes until a child cries out the truth “but he has nothing on!”. 

But it’s just a Danish fairytale from 1800s, right?  There’s no way it’s of any relevance for the Local Council sector in 2023?

One potential moral of the story is that when there is something wrong in the world, we need brave and insightful individuals to set things right.  Or perhaps it’s a warning against the trap of bureaucrats and officials being complicit in the perpetuation of nonsense, motivated by a fear of being exposed as unworthy of their lofty pay and privileges.

In my view, the Local Government Act 1972 (72 Act) is an increasingly ridiculous and embarrassing garment for our sector to be parading around in.  It’s woven from the finest of illusionary gold and imaginary silk threads.   Here’s just three of many reasons why the 72 Act is in fact a massive wardrobe malfunction for the Local Council sector.

1. An assembly of nonsense and confusion: the Parish Meeting

For every one of our parish and town council areas, the ‘Parish Meeting’ is a type of un-incorporated local authority whose membership consists of all local government electors for the parish.  The Parish Meeting must assemble at least once a year, and though it can be called to assemble via a few different routes no individual or organisation is required to call it to assemble. 

Each Parish Meeting exists as a separate public authority in some parts of UK administrative law. They must comply with H&S legislation and the Equality Act, for example, and during the COVID regulations period the Parish Meeting was included in the list of Public Bodies that were allowed to meet online.

 Many of us refer to assemblies of Parish Meetings as just ‘parish meetings’, and we get the verb ‘meeting’ confused with the proper noun Meeting…and madness ensues.  The annual assembly of our local Parish Meeting(s) has turned into little more than an administrative task for many a poor Clerk, and the SLCC forum is littered with questions about them. They are, frankly, a complete dog’s breakfast as a legal entity and are an embarrassment to our sector.

There are so many more innovative and creative ways to engage with and empower local communities, isn’t it time that we consigned Parish Meetings to the dressing-up box and improve our wardrobe with something better to wear?

2. It was acceptable in the ‘70s

Many of the issues that we come across in the application of the 72 act arise from a timeline firmly fixed in the past rather than acting as a path towards a better future. 

If you read the 72 act side by side with the 1933 LGA you will see that swathes of the 72 act are more or less facsimiles of the 33 act.  Yes, that’s right – a substantial amount of our current legislation is derived from a time when we had colonial rule over India, people under 21yrs old couldn’t vote, women weren’t entitled to maternity leave, and homosexuality was a criminal act.  

The 72 act predates the internet as we know it, home computers, social media, hybrid working and equalities legislation.   Given that two thirds of current Local Council Clerks are 51 – 70yrs old it’s little wonder that some elements of ‘the way we do things’ may seem to many of us as comfortably familiar as a Christmas edition of The Morecambe & Wise Show.  But I’d suggest that it’s also as relevant and appropriate to our current community contexts as Eddie Booth, Alf Garnett, or Benny Hill are.  The only difference is that those cultural exhibits are now frozen in time and confined to streaming services, DVDs or YouTube snippets, whereas we are bound to live in our 70s legislation cringe-fest on a daily basis.

3. Democracy? What democracy?

One of the foundation stones of the LGA ’72 is the concept of representational democracy, and the term ‘elected’ is strewn throughout the legislation.  Democratic engagement is definitive and existential for what we claim to be: ‘Parish councillors shall be elected by the local government electors for the parish…’

But taking the most recent (2022) Local Council elections as a benchmark, of 8068 local council seats up for grabs only 11% were filled through contested elections.  A staggering 89% were uncontested or unfilled and left to co-option. 

Even where contested elections do happen, the electoral turnout is woefully poor.  18.3million people were registered to vote in the 2021 UK local elections, and average election turnout was just 35.6% – suggesting that there were over 11.7million ‘missing’ voices in local elections that year.

Even in those few Local Council areas where contested elections did take place in 2021, actual voter turnout was as low as 20% for some seats. The assertion that we are a sector borne of representational democracy and with a clear mandate from local people is an illusion, and the more we perpetuate the grand claim that Local Councils are the coalface of democratic governance the more we are akin to the naked Emperor’s complicit courtiers.

We need a drastic rethink of our current legislative framework.  Our people – Councillors, staff, and volunteers – do amazing things in local communities, day in and day out.  They deserve better from the law.  We need to stop pretending that everything is ok, or just going along with it because the person before us seemed to think it was ok.  Our empty council seats, low election turn out and striking lack of diversity in our sector suggest that our communities are full of Hans Christian Andersen’s little children, smirking and pointing as they shout “but you’ve got no clothes on!”

Isn’t it time we stopped and told the Emperor a few naked truths?  It may be uncomfortable to accept that we’re in desperate need of change. But if we can do it together as a profession we may be able to influence government to work with us to weave the Emperor some new clothes fit for the next 50 years with our integrity intact and without our publicly-exhibited wobbly bits getting in the way.