Councils want less government interference

Councils have to provide Whitehall with performance indicators in 566 different areas, said the government-commissioned report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Some 80% of effort put into reporting performance is driven centrally.

The communities secretary said ministers had got on to the "centralising treadmill".

Ms Kelly added that a "tipping point for democracy" had been reached which must lead to a "new and unprecedented era of devolution".

The report found councils complained a "highly disproportionate" of senior officials' time was now devoted to preparing for and managing inspections.

In some areas like adult and child social services it had led to "onerous" work producing studies which then seemed to be left on the shelf.

Change bottom-up?

Councils say they are subject to "high levels of unnecessary micro-management" and argue that there is overlap between the requirements of different targets.

Ms Kelly told the Local Government Association annual conference that ministers needed to take a "tough" approach to target setting in the wake of coming to power in 1997.

But she went on: "We got into the habit of responding to too many new challenges with what some would call a centralising measure. A ring-fenced grant. A new initiative. A new central unit.

"At first, prevailing wisdom said that innovation and change would only come from the top-down.

"But experience has shown that real change needs to be bottom-up - national initiative combined with local ownership, commitment and energy.

"So there is a growing realisation in Whitehall that we must get off the centralising treadmill and I believe we are in the process of learning a devolutionary habit."

She said she would use the local government white paper, due to be published in the autumn, to spell how she proposed to build a new approach with a "presumed autonomy for councils".

"I want to see a set of government departments that realise that their job is to set clear frameworks for delivery and reporting, not to interfere and micro-manage," said Ms Kelly.