Title

The credit crunch, and attendant publicity, has understandably sparked fears and concerns across society, including aspects of local government. Many a finance director has cautiously reviewed their lending schedules against the latest scare emanating from the City, and the impact on individuals and households has, perhaps, yet to be felt in full. One of the reasons behind the crunch is alleged to be the complexity of arrangements and financial instruments employed by banks. While this has yet to be confirmed in any formal way, maybe there are lessons for local government. The local democratic landscape has changed significantly over the last 10 years. No longer does the council have primacy over public service delivery within its community, but rather, this is shared with a range of providers. Just go to any council website and review the plethora of partnership, working group and shared-service activity, and you'll get the point. And while all have sound and sensible objectives, the links between them is often complex and difficult to explain to all. Even that is fine, until something goes wrong, or does not happen, and then the attentions of our attentive media come to bear down on us, asking those apparently-obvious questions. We'll leave the role of the regulator in both the public and financial sectors for another day. What then the role of finance with these complex arrangements? Quite straightforward actually. Answer the challenging questions in a way which is not interpreted as obstructing progress. We don't want ‘municipal crunch' in a few years time, but we all want to provide more effective, joined-up and efficient services to our residents. Or we should. Gareth Moss director of finance at Bridgend CBC

Title

BUSINESS

Money Matters

SUBSCRIBE TO CONTINUE READING