Across Whitehall ‘growth’ has become the rallying cry, and localism is being sacrificed to the urgent demand for economic development Read more
Forget ‘community plans’, it is big business that is set to gain from the weakening of local government’s planning role Read more
Ministers’ rhetoric on localism has displayed ambition. The government has set the bar high, and insofar as removing central burdens is concerned, the coalition’s first year has been a success. Planning regulations relaxed, inspection regimes removed, ringfencing ended. Read more...
Councils are being squeezed in all directions and still have services to run. But better use of data and IT can cut costs and the administration burden Read more...
The Localism Bill and the government’s health and education reforms are intended to put some policy flesh on the bones of ministers’ localism and Big Society rhetoric. And while all three are significant in their own way, there is still a lack of consensus and understanding on what localism actually means for local government. Most of us get the gist of it (or think we do). But how this will translate into concrete changes to way councils do business, or their fundamental role in delivering local public services, is less clear. Read more...
The government may have dropped the national drive for ‘Total Place’ but increasingly local authorities and their public sector partners are either adopting or exploring the opportunities for what might be seen as Total Place approaches. Read more...
The local government finance settlement was published last month, but many councils have been planning for and making changes in preparation for their shrunken budgets since June 2010. So far the focus has been on how authorities can change their structures, reduce the number of departments and get better deals from their suppliers. Read more...
Yesterday we clearly saw what ‘localism’ means for the coalition government: localising the bill for the financial and economic crisis caused not by government – central or local – but by the banks. Read more...
In these uncertain times, councils can take a more hands-on approach to development and regeneration. Paul McGuinness of GVA Financial Consulting discusses the options Read more...
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