The Presiding Officers’ sundries have been packed away. New MPs have been photographed; new councillors have declared that they will fulfil their duties duly and faithfully. The Conservatives hold a narrow but workable Parliamentary majority. What does this mean for local government?
The short answer is “more of the same”. Eric Pickles has moved on, to become an anti-corruption tsar, so there should be less hobbyhorsing. But Greg Clark has a solid CV, majoring in city deals and community rights, most of his team have been councillors and there are few surprises in the Conservative manifesto.
The main issue is austerity: an additional £13bn in Government departmental savings over the next two years. Councils may have more access to business rates, but businesses are promised a major review so the overall pot could shrink.
The manifesto recommends removing unspecified Whitehall burdens, more integration, shared services, co-location, on-line services and asset sales, and ending ‘six-figure payoffs for the best paid public sector workers’, but local government has done this already.
There will be a fund for areas affected by immigration, and councils will manage public land and buildings in return for some of the proceeds of sale. But with protection for schools, health, state pensions, the armed forces and international development, a cap on residential care charges, council tax controls, the impact of the £12bn welfare cuts, and a clutch of new initiatives this is going to be painful.
Infrastructure spending is a big theme: railways, roads, airports, broadband, flood defences, countryside enhancement and ‘pocket parks’.
More homes will be built, but the green belt will be protected, so there will be a real focus on brownfield sites. Councils will be made to sell off vacant high-value housing to fund extending the right-to-buy to housing association tenants. Windfarms, though, appear to have had their day.
So is devolution. Promises to Scotland and Wales will be kept, and an ‘English votes’ process introduced. The North is to be dug up. George Osborne’s ‘Northern Powerhouse; is somewhat ephemeral – lots of roads and trains, a few new scientific institutions, some investment in energy research, and a ‘Sovereign Wealth Fund’ and community benefit packages to localise the income from fracking – but James Wharton is appointed to deliver it.
The Greater Manchester deal will go through, and is on offer to any other city region that wants an elected mayor. The London Mayor will get new powers. Otherwise, we will continue with bespoke Growth Deals and economic development funding via LEPs.
The rest of the picture is more random. All staff will have three days ‘volunteering leave; a year. Front line staff will have to speak ‘fluent English’. Industrial action will be curtailed. Failing schools risk takeover by high-flying headteachers, and “coasting” schools will become academies.
Councils will be able to issue fixed penalties for littering. Children’s social workers will be better trained and mental health services improved. Overseas voters will be added to the register, more will be done about electoral fraud, and the boundary review will be pushed through. There will be free wi-fi in libraries. Residents and businesses will be helped to fight off unpopular parking schemes and the like. There will be a new ‘right to build’ your home, and a ‘right to mutualise’ public services. The Human Rights Act – but not the Convention – will be replaced by a British Bill of Rights and disengaged somehow from the European Courts, and extremism will become illegal.
Parliament will huff and puff, and there will be an EU referendum and a free vote on hunting, but it will really be about the money: how much there is, who gets it and who controls it. None of the parties impressed in the hustings with the cogency and transparency of their plans.
Manifestos are not legally binding. But local authorities will continue to deliver public services in the face of huge cuts and austerity will continue to drive collaboration, greater community engagement and new delivery methods.
Graeme Creer, Consultant in the Local Government Group at Weightmans LLP
