Colin Crawford suggests how to meet the growing demand for a power of general competence
The well-being power under Pt 1 of the Local Government Act 2000 represented an attempt to free local government from the restrictions imposed by the particularised statutory framework and narrow interpretations adopted by the judiciary, particularly in a number of decisions in the 1980s and 1990s.
However, the recent Court of Appeal decision in Risk Management Partners Ltd and others v Brent London Borough Council (LAML)[2009] EWCA Civ 490, [2009] All ER (D) 109 (Jun) not only adopted a restrictive approach to the use of the power in relation to the council’s participation in a mutual insurance company, but it has also adopted a restrictive approach to the power in general, affirming the relevance of the narrow interpretations in cases concerning s 111 of the Local Government Act 1972, which the well-being power was designed to avoid.
While s 34 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 has provided a solution to the particular problem by permitting local authorities to participate in mutual insurance companies, and there
