Title

In his recent book on the politics of climate change, Lord Anthony Giddens called for the creation of an ‘ensuring state', with the capacity to achieve political and economic convergence across policy sub-systems, to tackle what is becoming a global phenomenon. With the Copenhagen Climate Summit only weeks away, the need to work strategically at national government level has never been clearer. However, this notion of the ensuring state may also have a place at local level, in terms of the creation of an ‘ensuring council' – and not just for the purposes of climate change. An ensuring council is one which has to balance the macro imperatives against the micro dynamics which exist in neighbourhoods. Since the White Paper Strong and prosperous communities was first published, there has been a central government drive towards community engagement and empowerment, which manifested itself in initiatives such as devolvement to neighbourhood management, community kitties and asset transfers. However, has the recession now resulted in the application of the brakes to this particular bandwagon? Has the need for financial constraint focused authorities' minds on the need to act as strategic place shapers? Do councils now fear the breakdown of their capacity to influence the local economy in tackling difficult issues, such as unemployment and climate change? And has the agenda moved on from local communities to local economies? Local authorities must find the right balance between devolving political systems to a neighbourhood level and the overarching economic and environmental necessity which exists at present, and is also likely to worsen in the not-too-distant future. This tightrope-walking act is one that falls nicely within the notion of the ensuring council. First, one needs to be clear about why one is establishing such governance arrangements in the first place. Levels of autonomy have to be decided; local councillors will have to manage tensions between startegic and local issues; costs must be managed and the capacity to deal with wider issues needs to be retained. While devolution to neighbourhoods will remain a dominant policy theme, there are challenges and limitations to the role they can fulfil. In these difficult times, local communities need an ensuring council which can balance the tensions between local engagement and strategic need. Paul O'Brien is chief executive of the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE)

Title

CLIMATE CHANGE

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