What makes a good local Councillor?

Over the coming weeks hundreds of people will be seeking a job with an interview panel of thousands asking questions about their ability to deal with local problems, create jobs and run local services. But, this year will be a little bit different as local councils take on a lot more powers.

Speaking about the changes to local councils the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, Derek McCallan, made the point that as a community we need to place much greater focus on the work of councils saying;

We all know the old adage that councils are perceived by some as being no more than births, bins and burials. We want to challenge that myth. Councils are the civic hub of our communities and will have new powers to plan, drive invest in and develop local places, from cities to hamlets, from coastlines to creative industries.

Below are some of the new powers that new councils will be taking on from April 2015 and should be a useful job specification for voters to judge who would be the best candidate to deal with these issues.

Community planning

This will provide a framework within which Councils, departments, statutory bodies and other relevant agencies and sectors can work together to develop and implement a shared vision for promoting the economic, social and environmental well-being of their area based on effective engagement with the community.

General Power of Competence

This will enable a council, in broad terms, to act with similar freedom to an individual, unless there is a law to prevent it from doing so.  It would provide a council with the ability to act in its own interest and to develop innovative approaches to addressing issues in its area. So when you think about this it gives councils power to do anything, like say for example, if they wanted to build a leisure centre they could borrow the money to do so. The scope here is massive.

Planning

Local development plan functions

Development control and enforcement

Roads

Off street parking (except Park and Ride)

Urban regeneration and community development

Functions associated with physical development (e.g. environmental improvement

schemes)

Area based regeneration (such as Neighbourhood Renewal)

Some community development programmes for the voluntary and community sectors

Housing

Registration of houses in multiple occupation

Housing unfitness responsibilities, including repair and demolition notices

Local Economic Development (transfer from Invest NI)

Start a Business Programme and Enterprise Shows

Youth Entrepreneurship (such as Prince’s Trust and Shell Livewire)

Social Entrepreneurship

Investing for Women

Neighbourhood Renewal funding relating to enterprises initiatives

Local Tourism

Small scale tourism accommodation development

Providing business support including business start up advice along with training and

delivery of customer care schemes

Providing advice to developers on tourism policies and related issues

Other

Some elements of the delivery of the EU Rural Development Programme;

Authority to Spot List to enable Councils to add a building to the statutory list on a

temporary basis, subject to ratification by the DOE;

Authority to draw up local lists of buildings that are of architectural and/or historic

interest;

Armagh County Museum;

Local water recreational facilities;

Local sports (greater involvement of local government in local sports decisions);

Donaghadee Harbour

Slugger commentators-who would you pick to deal with these issues? What do you think makes a good councillor?