In 2019 Waltham Forest LBC became the first Mayor of London Borough of Culture - and won The MJ’s Local Authority of the Year category in the annual awards. Cllr Clare Coghill and Martin Esom talk to Michael Burton about the council's achievement.
Adur DC and Worthing BC are taking a stake in their local economies to catalyse investment in their places, based on establishing firm foundations to help local communities thrive, writes Martin Randall.
Pawda Tjoa says community-led approaches to early intervention should offer valuable lessons for policy-making on a national scale – and now is the time to ‘nurture the local initiatives that are already making a difference’.
We hope ministers take away the message from conference next month that it is districts, backed by long-term sustainable funding, who are best placed to turn the new decade into the roaring twenties, says Cllr John Fuller.
Core Cities has commissioned the OECD to put together a new and radical report into putting in place the right policies to enable places to fulfil their potential, says Cllr Judith Blake.
Maybe we should just recognise that recruitment is a lottery and get rid of the whole recruitment industry, replacing it with a lottery whereby any candidate who meets the person specification is eligible, argues Blair Mcpherson.
What do senior managers do when they are very good at their role but realise they are increasingly unlikely to fulfil their ambition, asks Blair Mcpherson.
The arguments for creating large unitary authorities have not been developed in an evidence-based way, say Steve Leach and Colin Copus. How can the persistence of ‘reorganisation by stealth’ be explained?
An anonymous writer ponders the incongruity between what the centre expects from local government and the ‘nature, breadth and ferocity’ of the challenges councils are facing.
Nadira Hussain asks how the sector can future-proof continuous improvement when technology and ‘need’ evolve all the time.
Blair Mcpherson ponders a recruitment software package to be used in conjunction with video interviews which analyse a candidate’s performance. He would rather place his faith in the traditional panel interview.
The Core Cities Summit in Glasgow was a tribute to how far local government has come in such a short space of time, writes Heather Jameson.
Cllr David Sparks urges the public to vote wisely to make sure local government can deliver more for its communities going forward.
A Downing Street unit will not be enough to drive this Government's stumbling pooled budget service transformation programme forward, writes Michael Burton.
