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Section 2: Boundaries of the general power

Localism Act 2011 · 2011 c. 20View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 1: Local Government — CHAPTER 1: General powers of authorities

If exercise of a pre-commencement power of a local authority is subject to restrictions, those restrictions apply also to exercise of the general power so far as it is overlapped by the pre-commencement power.

The general power does not enable a local authority to do—

anything which the authority is unable to do by virtue of a pre-commencement limitation, or
anything which the authority is unable to do by virtue of a post-commencement limitation which is expressed to apply—
to the general power,
to all of the authority's powers, or
to all of the authority's powers but with exceptions that do not include the general power.

The general power does not confer power to—

make or alter arrangements of a kind which may be made under Part 6 of the Local Government Act 1972 (arrangements for discharge of authority's functions by committees, joint committees, officers etc);
make or alter arrangements of a kind which are made, or may be made, by or under Part 1A of the Local Government Act 2000 (arrangements for local authority governance in England);
make or alter any contracting-out arrangements, or other arrangements within neither of paragraphs (a) and (b), that authorise a person to exercise a function of a local authority.

In this section—

  • "post-commencement limitation" means a prohibition, restriction or other limitation expressly imposed by a statutory provision that—

    (a)is contained in an Act passed after the end of the Session in which this Act is passed, or

    (b)is contained in an instrument made under an Act and comes into force on or after the commencement of section 1;

  • "pre-commencement limitation" means a prohibition, restriction or other limitation expressly imposed by a statutory provision that—

    (a)is contained in this Act, or in any other Act passed no later than the end of the Session in which this Act is passed, or

    (b)is contained in an instrument made under an Act and comes into force before the commencement of section 1;

  • "pre-commencement power" means power conferred by a statutory provision that—

    (a)is contained in this Act, or in any other Act passed no later than the end of the Session in which this Act is passed, or

    (b)is contained in an instrument made under an Act and comes into force before the commencement of section 1.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.