Cumbria Association of Local Councils
Powers and Duties of Local Councils
Local Councils have a wide range of powers and duties. The following table sets out the main ones; it is not a complete list of every single power and duty.
Where a function is marked with an asterisk (*), a council also has the power to give financial assistance to another person or body performing the same function.
LGA 1972 - Local Government Act 1972
| Function | Powers and Duties | Statutory Provision |
| Accounts | Duty to appoint a Responsible Financial Officer to manage the council's accounts | LGA 1972, s. 151 |
| Acceptance of office | Duty to sign declaration of acceptance of office (councillors and chairman) | LGA 1972, s. 83 |
| Agency arrangements | Power to arrange for the discharge of functions by another local authority | LGA 1972, s.101 |
| Allotments | Power to provide allotments duty to provide allotment gardens if demand exist | Smallholdings & Allotments Act 1908, ss. 23, 26 & 42 |
| Baths and washhouses | Power to provide public baths and washhouses | Public Health Act 1936, ss. 221-223, 227 |
| Borrowing | Power to borrow money for statutory functions | LGA 1972, Sch 13 |
| Burial grounds, cemeteries and crematoria* | Power to acquire and maintain | Open Spaces Act 1906, ss. 9 & 10 |
| Power to provide | LGA 1972, s. 214 | |
| Power to agree to maintain memorials and monuments | Parish Councils and Burial Authorities (Misc. Prov.) Act 1970, s 1 | |
| Power to contribute to expenses of maintaining cemeteries | LGA1972, s. 214(6) | |
| Bus shelters* | Power to provide and maintain bus shelters | Local Government (Misc. Prov.) Act 1953, s. 4 |
| Byelaws | Power to make byelaws for public walks and pleasure grounds | Public Health Act 1875, s. 164 |
| Cycle parks | Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, s. 57(7) | |
| Baths and Washhouses | Public Health Act, 1936 s. 233 | |
| Open spaces and burial grounds | Open Spaces Act, 1906, s. 15 | |
| Charities | Power to appoint trustees of parochial charities | Charities Act 1993, s. 79 |
| Christmas lights | Power to provide to attract visitors | LGA 1972 s.144 |
| Citizens Advice Bureau | Power to support | LGA 1972 s.142 |
| Clocks* | Power to provide public clocks | Parish Councils Act 1957 s. 2 |
| Closed churchyards | Power (and sometimes duty) to maintain | LGA 1972 s. 215 |
| Commons and common pastures | Powers in relation to enclosure, regulation and management, and providing common pasture | Inclosure Act 1845; Local Government Act 1894, s.8(4); Smallholdings & Allotments Act 1908, s.34 |
| Community centres | Power to provide and equip community buildings | LGA 1972 s.133 |
| Power to provide buildings for use of clubs having athletic, social or educational objectives | Local Government (Misc. Prov.) Act 1976, s. 19 | |
| Conference Facilities* | Power to provide and encourage the use conference facilities | LGA 1997, s. 144 |
| Consultation | Right to be consulted by principal councils if directed by Secretary of State (England) or by Welsh Assembly (Wales) | Local Government and Rating Act 1997, s. 21 LGA 1972, s. 33A |
| Crime prevention* | Power to spend money on various crime prevention measures | Local Government and Rating Act 1997, s. 31 |
| Drainage | Power to deal with ditches and ponds | Public Health Act 1936, s. 260 |
| Entertainment and the Arts* | Provision of entertainment and support for the arts including festivals and celebrations | LGA 1972, s. 145 |
| Flagpoles | Power to erect flagpoles in the highways | Highways Act 1980, s. 144 |
| Free Resource | Power to incur expenditure not otherwise authorised on anything which in the council's opinion is in the interests of the area or part of it or all or some of the inhabitants | LGA 1972, s. 137 |
| Gifts | Power to accept gifts | LGA 1972, s. 139 |
| Highways | Power to maintain footpaths & bridleways | Highways Act 1980, ss. 43 & 50 |
| Power to light roads and public places | Parish Councils Act 1957 s.3 | |
| Power to provide parking places for vehicles, bicycles and motor-cycles | Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 s.57 | |
| Power to make a dedication agreement for a new highway or widening of an existing highway | Highways Act 1980, ss. 30 & 72 | |
| Right to veto application to magistrates court to stop up, divert or cease to maintain a public highway | Highways Act 1980, ss. 47 & 116 | |
| Power to complain to a local highway authority that a highway is unlawfully stopped up or obstructed | Highways Act 1908, s. 130 | |
| Power to plant trees etc. and maintain roadside verges | Highways Act 1980, s. 96 | |
| Power to prosecute for unlawful ploughing of a footpath or bridleway | Highways Act 1980, s. 134 | |
| Power to provide traffic signs and other notices | Road Traffic Regulation Act, 1984, s. 72 | |
| Interests | Duty to declare an interest | LGA 1972, s. 94 |
| Investments | Power to participate in schemes of collective investment | Trustee Act 1961 s.11 |
| Land | Power to acquire land by agreement, to appropriate land and to dispose of land | LGA 1972, ss. 124, 126 & 127 |
| Power to acquire land by compulsory purchase | LGA 1972, s. 125 | |
| Power to accept gifts of land | LGA 1972, s. 139 | |
| Power to obtain particulars of persons interested in land | Local Government (Misc. Prov.) Act 1976, s. 16 | |
| Lighting | Power to light roads and public places | Parish Councils Act 1957, s.3 & Highways Act 1980, s. 301 |
| Litter* | Power to provide litter bins in streets and public places | Litter Act 1983, ss. 5 & 6 |
| Lotteries | Power to promote lotteries | Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976, s. 7 |
| Meetings | Duty to hold annual parish meeting | LGA 1972, Sch. 12 para.23 |
| Duty to hold annual parish council meeting | LGA 1972, Sch. 12 para. 7 | |
| Power to convene a parish meeting | LGA 1972, Sch. 12 para. 14 | |
| Mortuaries and post-mortem rooms | Power to provide mortuaries and post-mortem rooms | Public Health Act 1936, s. 198 |
| Newsletters | Power to provide information relating to matters affecting local government | LGA 1972 s.142 |
| Nuisances* | Power to deal with offensive ponds, ditches and gutters | Public Health Act 1936, s. 260 |
| Open Spaces | Power to acquire and maintain open spaces | Public Health Act 1875, s. 164 Open Spaces Act 1906, ss.9,10 |
| Parish documents | Power to give directions as to custody of parish documents | LGA 1972, s. 226 |
| Parking facilities | Power to provide parking places for motor vehicles and bicycles | Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, ss. 57 & 63 |
| Parks and pleasure grounds | Power to acquire land or to provide recreation grounds, public walks, pleasure grounds and open spaces and to manage and control them | Public Health Act 1875 s.164; LGA 1972 sch. 14 para. 27; Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1890 s.44 |
| Public buildings and village halls | Power to provide buildings for offices and for public meetings and assemblies | LGA 1972, s. 133 |
| Public conveniences | Power to provide public conveniences | Public Health Act 1936, s. 87 |
| Publicity | Power to provide information about matters affecting local government | LGA 1972, s. 142 |
| Records | Power to collect, exhibit and purchase local records | Local Government (Records) Act 1962, ss. 1 & 2 |
| Recreation* | Power to provide a wide range of recreational facilities | Open Spaces Act 1906, s. 9-10 Local Government (Misc. Prov.) Act 1976, s. 19 |
| Provision of boating pools | Public Health Act 1961 s.54 | |
| Seats and shelters* | Power to provide roadside seats and shelters | Parish Councils Act 1957, s. 1 |
| Town and Country planning | Right to be notified of planning applications | Town & Country Planning Act 1990, para. 8 of sch. 1; para. 2 of Sch. 1A (Wales) |
| Town status | Power to adopt town status | LGA 1972, ss. 245, 245B |
| Tourism* | Power to contribute to encouragement of Tourism | LGA 1972, s. 144 |
| Traffic calming | Power to contribute to the cost of traffic calming measures | Highways Act 1980, s. 274A |
| Transport* | Power to (a) establish car-sharing schemes; (b) make grants for bus services; (c) provide taxi-fare concessions; (d) investigate public transport, road use needs; (e) provide information about public transport services | Local Government and Rating Act 1997, s. 26 Transport Act 1985 s106A |
| Village signs | Power to use decorative signs to inform visitors | LGA 1972 s.144 |
| Village greens* | Power to maintain, to make bylaws for and to prosecute for interference with village greens | Open Spaces Act 1906, s. 15; Inclosure Act 1857, s. 12; Commons Act 1876, s. 29 |
| Village Halls* | (see Community centres and Public buildings) | |
| War memorials | Power to maintain, repair and protect war memorials | War Memorials (Local Authorities Powers) Act 1923, s. 1 as extended by LGA 1948, s. 133 |
| Water supply | Power to utilise any well, spring or stream to provide facilities for obtaining water from them | Public Health Act 1936, s. 125 |
