INCIDENTAL POWER

August 2nd, 2023 by James Goudie KC

In these post-GPOC days, now in Wales as well as England, source of vires issues tend to loom less large, as the localism legislation intends, but questions still crop up as to what may be authorised by the general power in Section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972, in conjunction with some other power. In R ( Ball ) v Hinckley & Bosworth BC (2023) EWHC 1922 ( Admin ) at para 73 a reminder : “ That section has a wide ambit but its scope is not unlimited. “ Where there are provisions expressly defining the way in which a local authority’s particular powers are to be exercised then Section 111 does NOT operate to enable the exercise of those powers in a different way : Sutton LBC v Morgan Grenfell. Similarly, Section 111 CANNOT be used as an “ escape route “ to act in a way that is inconsistent with other statutory provisions “Credit Suisse v Allerdale BC.

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