At its meeting of April 2019 Redgrave Parish Council (RPC) considered the advantages of the General Power of Competence (GPC) which was intended to give local councils wider powers to deliver more for their communities. The RPC confirmed that it met the eligibility criteria for adoption of the GPC as defined in the Localism Act 2011 and SI 965 The Parish Councils (General Power of Competence) (Prescribed Conditions) Order 2012. This meant that 2/3 of members were elected rather than co-opted and the Clerk had an approved qualification. The Council therefore RESOLVED, with all agreed, to adopt the General Power of Competence. 

 

This decision is required to be reviewed every parish council election year, so in the case of Redgrave this was in 2023.  Guidance is given at https://www.lalc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Fact-sheet-General-Power-of-Competence.pdf  which states the following:

 

“A local council must decide, at a full meeting of the council, that it meets the criteria for eligibility at that particular point in time.  A resolution to this effect must be written clearly in the minutes of that meeting.   The council is then required to revisit that decision and make a new resolution at every ‘relevant’ annual meeting of the council to confirm that it still meets the criteria (if it does).  This means that eligibility remains in place until the first annual meeting of the council after the ordinary election even if the condition of the eligibility criteria has changed.”

 

The guidance document goes on to define a ‘relevant annual meeting’ as: “A ‘relevant’ annual meeting is the annual meeting of the council after the ordinary election that normally takes place every four years.  The confirmation does not have to take place every year.“

 

At its annual meeting held on 11 May 2023 the Parish Council decided that as it no longer had a CiLCA-qualified clerk then it was no longer eligible to exercise GPC. The Council agreed to put its GPC into abeyance until such time as the Clerk may be CiLCA qualified.