Does a Council looses General Power of Competence if the No. of elected councillors falls below 2/3

Question

Hi, I have a question that I hope you can answer for me on General Power of Competence.

I understand that there are two points that need to be meet before a council can be granted eligibility for GPC one being the Clark has to hold a CiLCA certificate or hold one of the below.

• The Certificate of Higher Education in Local Council Administration
• The first level of the Foundation Degree in Community Engagement
• The Certificate of Higher Education in Local Policy and Governance (the Level Four course)
• Any equivalent successor qualification

The other is that 2/3 of the councillors are elected councillors.

My question is this:

If a council has meet the above for eligibility for GPC but over time the council elected councillors falls below the 2/3 requirement does the council loose GPC at that point or do they still hold GPC until the next general meeting ?.

I understand that if the clerk that holds either of the above should leave the council and the incoming Clerk does not hold any of the requirements, the council still holds GPC until the next general meeting ?. 

GPC what does it allow the council to do, does it mean without GPC the council can’t start task I.e purchase new assets “land etc” or grant monies.

Finally is GPC something most council strive to.

Answer 1

Once a Council has declared itself eligible to exercise the General Power of Competence, that eligibility continues until the annual meeting immediately after the next scheduled election, usually 4 years, regardless of changes in the membership of the Council.

Comments

To answer your other points, in simple terms, it gives councils the power to do anything an individual can do provided it is not prohibited by other legislation. As always, there is small print attached to this, but it enhances the powers of local councils in areas such as engaging in commercial activity. You mentioned the purchase of land or issuing of grants, but these are things any local council may do, regardless of whether they hold the General Power.

I haven't seen any statistics regarding the take-up, but the benefits are relatively limited for smaller parish councils that form the majority of the sector, so I suspect that take-up is low.