Mark Hofman’s interesting critique of the recent English Devolution White Paper is, effectively, a plea to retain decision making closer to communities. And, of course, devolving powers to a body further removed from the people it serves is in danger of resembling an oxymoron – larger councils, covering relatively vast geographic areas, are less likely to understand the needs of less homogeneous, less visible communities.

From the perspective of a Parish Council Chair though, what is most depressing about the White Paper is the way in which it completely disregards an entire tier of local government, the Town and Parish Councils of England. 10,000 councils and parish meetings, 100,000 councillors, all dismissed as an apparent irrelevance. And yet, the Government were so close to getting it.

The White Paper states:

“For hyper-local issues, communities should be empowered to make change happen – such as taking over ownership of treasured community assets, and working with civic society organisations to drive community improvements”

but in communities across the country, Town and Parish Councils are already doing just that. And, as principal authorities grapple with financial crises, our tier is increasingly taking on those facets of local provision which enhance our communities. From youth services in Yate, to community festivals in Hereford, and parks and public toilets in Taunton, local councils are stepping in where the Counties, Unitaries and Districts can’t or won’t. Even a council as small as my village of Creeting St Peter provides essential street lighting and a Speed Indicator Device. We develop Neighbourhood Plans which help to drive house building in our communities, something that this Government is particularly keen on. Does Angela Rayner recognise that? Like heck she does.

And unless this Labour administration is planning to do something about increasing the funds available to principal authorities, the direction of travel isn’t going to change, leaving Town and Parish Councils to pick up more and more of those “nice to have” services and facilities that “drive community improvements” as Angela puts it.

Labour appear not only to ignore the sector but positively disrespect it. Funding to compensate local authorities for the increase in Employer National Insurance Contributions? Not for Town and Parish Councils, yet we employ staff, in some cases, dozens of them, providing services that are locally accountable and valued by our residents. That additional cost, created through no fault of our own, will have to found from service cuts or precept increases.

The Conservatives were little better in terms of respect for the sector, although they did acknowledge our existence. Some progress had been made, with our sector able to bid for funding through the Community Ownership Fund. And my fear is that even that progress is at risk, given that we aren’t included in the Local Government Finance Settlement. If there are not to be “pots” to bid for, and all available funding is to be directed to principal authorities, where do we fit in?

But those of us who live in parished areas will at least have hyper-local councils to represent us and work for our communities. English devolution should, in theory, offer all communities the opportunity to form local councils to allow genuine participatory and accountable involvement for local people. Does the White Paper offer that perhaps? I’ll save you reading it – no, it does not. What that means is that the residents of Creeting St Peter, population 270(ish), will have a body with the statutory right to be consulted on planning applications in their area, whereas the residents of nearby Ipswich, population 150,000, will not.

Labour has, as it often does, a view of devolution which is limited and adheres to a “strong leader” model which creates an impression of local democracy but, in reality, concentrates power in the hands of a small number of key individuals with vast fiefdoms. And as we’ve seen across the country, that leads to lower turnouts in local elections and a disengaged populace.

The National Association of Local Councils, the Town and Parish Councils equivalent of the Local Government Association, has already responded to the White Paper, albeit more positively than I have. But we aren’t going away, much as though Labour ministers give the impression that they’d like us to. And Liberal Democrats, with our belief in genuine devolution, should be lining up to support our sector. I hope that our Parliamentary Parties will do just that.

* Mark Valladares is the Chair of the Smaller Councils Committee of the National Association of Local Councils and writes here in a personal capacity.