Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group

5.5.6 Roads are classified into national primary roads, national secondary roads,
regional roads, and local roads. Local roads include all rural and urban
roads. The town council is the road authority for the construction and
maintenance of all local roads in its administrative area. The work carried
out in most town councils includes routine maintenance and street cleaning.
A number of towns, through local agreement, are also road authorities for
regional and national roads.
Housing
5.5.7 The following range of housing services is provided by rating town councils:
• Building and maintenance of houses;
• Housing applications and allocations, transfer applications, rent
assessment and collection;
• Tenant purchase schemes; and
• Estate management.
5.5.8 Town councils own about 10% of the local authority housing stock and carry
out many of the traditional functions of a housing authority, including needs
assessment, allocations, rent determination, the procurement of housing
supply under the social housing investment programme, and the
management and maintenance of their social housing units. A number of
specialist functions – the operation of the Rental Accommodation Scheme,
regulation of the voluntary sector, Traveller accommodation, affordable
housing – and some others are carried out at county level. The assessment
of housing needs is carried out generally on a joint or shared basis. Where
separate assessments are carried out by both town and county, this results
in duplication of work, which the Group consider to be a poor use of
resources (see section 10.1).
Community Services
5.5.9 Many town councils operate leisure facilities, swimming pools, community
facilities, and support local arts projects in their area. Town councils also
engage in a range of other activities designed to support economic and
community development in their area, including tourism development and
promotion, community support, economic development projects, supporting
festivals and events, and facilitating voluntary contributions and work for the
town, such as through tidy towns.
Environment
5.5.10 Town councils have a range of responsibilities in this area, including the
control of environmental pollution, the safety of structures and places, street
cleaning, and the prevention of litter. For example, town councils employ
litter wardens or community wardens (who also issue parking fines) to carry
out functions under this heading. Town councils maintain a derelict sites
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