Democracy duty for councils

Councils would have a new duty to promote democracy, under government plans announced this week.

Communities secretary Hazel Blears said she wanted every council to run lively campaigns to explain the voting system and encourage first time voters.

“This duty to promote democracy will mean that local councils are placed in their proper context: not as units of local administration, but as lively, vibrant hubs of democracy,” she told the LGA annual conference. Ms Blears said money would be spent on training council staff in the basics of local democracy, so when residents telephone their council they can easily find out the political structure.

Political parties should be able to hold meetings in council buildings and council leaders should have good office facilities and support staff, she said.

“These measures will make clear that politics is not a dirty word, that councils are political entities, and that councillors, with power on loan from the people, are in charge,” she said.

The move will be among a raft of measures announced this week in the community empowerment white paper.

“Be in no doubt: I want to pass power from the centre to councillors and councils. But the other half of the
equation is that power must be passed to local communities,” said Ms Blears.

The communities secretary also announced that rules banning council staff from getting involved in party politics would be scrapped – although certain senior posts will still be politically restricted. Under the so-called Widdicombe rules, officers whose salaries are over a certain level are forbidden to be politically active.

•  The government is planning changes to how unpaid council tax is collected. Local government minister John Healey told the LGA’s annual conference that transferring enforcement from the criminal magistrates courts to the civil county courts would help increase collection rates and reduce the number of people sent to prison for non-payment – more than 380 in 2005. The move was welcomed by LGA chairman Sir Simon Milton, who said it was sensible for councils to have a range of collection options. See www.lga.gov.uk/first