The role of local government and the idea of transferring power to communities look set to be key battlegrounds in the upcoming election. But the issue for the sector is whether the real challenges it faces get an airing, or whether it must endure a protracted silly season and hope for the best in the next Parliament.
The context of some local authorities going bust and increasing numbers on the brink is as likely encourage the pathologising of all councils as it is to prompt deeper questions about the consequences of systemically underfunding local services. And as we see from the Government reversing decisions over HS2 and whipping up conspiracy theories over council powers to ease congestion, the attraction of short-term gimmicks over long term sustainable decision-making is strong.
So, how could a serious government address tough challenges head on, particularly in the context of a grim fiscal backdrop and public services in crisis? A new report published by New Local sets out a route towards just that. Co-authored by a group of Labour council leaders, A Labour Vision for Community Power sets out a case for reform and renewal for their national counterparts that would create stronger, more effective public services and restore trust across the system. Keir Starmer has already committed to a big redistribution of power from Westminster to communities via a Take Back Control Act and a new approach to mission-driven government – so the report sets out how this could happen in practice.
The umbilical link between councils and communities is at the heart of this. Previous Government policy has often sought to separate the two and create division. For example, the Localism Act created weak new rights for communities, just as austerity policy commenced which reduced the capacity of councils to respond. The Big Society saw the two as zero-sum – communities would automatically step into spaces vacated by the state.
The report explicitly recognises that it is not possible to empower communities by undermining local government. It sets out a strong case for creating existential certainty for the sector through legislation that would guarantee its administrative and financial independence, as part of a wider new settlement. The fiscal outlook makes more funding immediately a challenge. But a Comprehensive Spending Review in the next Parliament can do much to create local stability through multi-year funding certainty and streamlining competitive funding pots into single allocations.
The case for sufficient funding for local government is broader than just a direct plea for the sector. It goes to the heart of how we make the most effective use of spending across our system of public provision. We see the consequences of cuts to early intervention or social care play out in rising demand for more expensive, acute provision. The word prevention can be meaningless when used in the abstract nationally, but the hard graft of investing up front in provision that saves costly interventions further down the line can only be forged locally between partners serving the same population. The report argues for pooled place-based budgets under the democratic mandate of local authorities – an important principle for local government to establish and fight for, particularly with respect to a political party so beholden to the NHS model that it has already proposed a National Care Service in apparently the same image.
On the basis of achieving stability and effective allocation of existing spend in places, a new vision for community power can be realised. This would be through a series of new rights for communities to own local assets of value, to participate in neighbourhood decision-making and to shape the public services they use. To ensure the expectation isn't just put on communities to self-organise, a new community impact duty across the public sector should require bodies to identify and proactively engage communities in decisions that affect them. This is particularly important for communities of experience who share a health condition or demographic characteristic such as race or class. Their insights should be sought on a deep level to inform how services are planned, designed and delivered for the greatest impact to improve their lives.
The idea of a national political party winning power in order to give it away again could feel paradoxical. But as the report sets out, we need a new statecraft to govern our complex and sometimes volatile times. This would refuse to hoard power at any level of government, and instead recognise that by distributing it across the system, better and more legitimate collective decision-making can be achieved, with communities much more directly in control of their own futures.
The full report can be read here
Jessica Studdert is deputy chief executive at New Local
X – @jesstud
