Political turbulence and relentless uncertainty are sending shockwaves across a local government sector that is already firefighting.
We began planning the ADEPT conference in March, choosing the title ‘place leadership in a perfect storm’ to reflect the challenges facing local authorities at a time of local, national and international uncertainty. Fast forward six months and this title is even more pertinent: I’ve never known a time when the combination of financial challenges, workforce shortages and a lack of clarity of direction has been so marked in this country.
As place directors, we have a vital role to play against this backdrop. We need to set out clear ambitions for what we want to achieve and try to steer and support government in securing what we all want: a healthy, wealthy UK. Our politicians have to navigate the country out of this situation sustainably, both economically and environmentally.
For local authorities, the reality is that austerity started in 2009 with the financial crisis. All the low hanging fruit in terms of delivering efficiencies, was taken during that 10-year period and there are few – if any – left to make. The question now is: how do we continue to serve communities with even further cuts on the horizon?
Place directors are not just here to drive economic growth. Amid national and global uncertainty, we are the ones who keep everything running, who are there for our communities, truly providing leadership in a perfect storm. We have a strong set of shared values that sit behind decision making and we are focused on serving our communities. Managing household waste recycling centres, maintaining our road network and responding to the challenges of extreme weather – the work we do and services we deliver provide the steady base on which the country depends.
Indisputably, we are now facing really hard, painful decisions. To make them, we have to understand our priorities for place as a whole. For us these will, of course, be focused on place services, but they will also need to support people services and public health, so we need to work closely with our colleagues to respond as effectively as we can.
In this critically tight financial environment, we will have to prioritise. Funding will be closely targeted at projects that have certainty and deliver the best outcomes. There will be times when we will need to look at how we can stretch the risk profile to be able to continue schemes or take them forward, to understand the financial and delivery risks. These will have to be shared across national and local government: local authorities cannot carry such risks alone.
This is the background to this year’s ADEPT conference. Taking the themes of ‘People, Place and Planet’, we will be discussing some of the most pressing issues facing place leadership in a perfect storm.
ADEPT’s major concern is that action on climate change might become less of a priority as a way of addressing financial pressures. In reality, we only have until 2050 to make these changes – that’s not far away. We need to be realistic about whether climate targets are still achievable. If there is a problem we need to work out what the solution is, engage more directly with government departments to highlight issues and identify where support is required.
Like many other sectors, we are experiencing both a lack of skills and a severe shortage of people to fill key roles – this needs addressing urgently. We need to work collectively and explore recruitment processes, how we attract young people, share services and resources, and consider how we bridge skills gaps. We need to work with education to ensure the right training is in place to meet existing and future skills gaps.
ADEPT will continue to support place leaders, as well as national Government as it formulates policy. We want to enable them to understand the implications of existing policy decisions. We also acknowledge we are experiencing profound changes. Local authorities always react to changing times, adopting innovative initiatives – such as Live Labs – and reshaping services, can help to mitigate some cuts.
What we do know is that getting place right is vitally important – not only to our economy, but to the health and wellbeing of the UK. That’s why this year’s conference is so important; it brings us all together to share best practice and enable collaboration. It offers support for all members to meet our challenges head on.
Mark Kemp is president of ADEPT
@ADEPTLA
More information about ADEPT can be found at www.adeptnet.org.uk
