It may be silly season for the national media, but within local government, the news comes thick and fast. This week alone, the ongoing saga of the revised pay offer and the split among council leaders over whether to accept it is joined by the LGA's warnings of a £4bn fall in income, the Audit Commission report into councils and the recession, a revisit of the Iceland banks saga, a resurface of the Baby P tragedy and ongoing Shoesmith sacking appeal and, just for good measure, an interim chief executive's broadside against his erstwhile employer, one-star Surrey CC. Whatever happened to summer holidays in local government? Of most significance are the LGA and Audit Commission reports, each a reflection of the other. The LGA warns of at least a £4bn drop in council revenue because of the impact of the recession on charged services such as parking or pools. The commission report, in turn, says that when it comes to dealing with the downturn, councils now face a second, much harder phase, when they have to tackle the effects of worsening unemployment and its social consequences. But it also says councils remain best placed to provide locally-tailored solutions. The conclusions will not have been lost on the relevant Cabinet ministers, many of whom listened to a presentation on the findings a few weeks back. They, once again, chime with the direction of travel on LAAs, CAA, Total Place and the recent John Denham announcements on urging more scrutiny powers for councils across public sector partners. But they also place the onus for tackling the downturn on the shoulders of local government which, in turn, is already warning, in the LGA study, that its own capacity has been hit. Intriguingly, Unison, doubtless miffed over the pay offer row, this week lobbed in its own grenade, to the effect that the LGA was only ‘crying wolf' over loss of revenue and that things were not as bleak as portrayed. Conspiracy theorists will see a link here between the Labour Government and the unions against Conservative-dominated local government at a time when the Tories are pushing to scrap the revised pay offer. But that story is for another day… Michael Burton, Editor, The MJ
