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Hazel Blears marks April Fools' Day with the birth of CAAs,the new unitaries, the duty to involve and a refreshed round of LAAs – all in one day. Different countries celebrate the New Year in different ways. Americans eat black-eyed peas. The Dutch, doughnuts. The Spanish swallow 12 grapes on the chimes of the clock. In some ways, 1 April represents the start of a new year for local government. And four significant changes are reshaping the landscape in which local authorities operate, better enabling them to rise to the challenges of the downturn and support their communities. First, the Comprehensive Area Assessment kicks off. We said goodbye to the Comprehensive Performance Assessment on a high, with 80% of councils rated three or four stars, and almost one-quarter judged to be ‘improving strongly'. The new area assessment represents a more sophisticated and robust approach. Instead of looking at local services in isolation, it asks how they add up together to affect the way we feel about living or working in a particular area. It is a spur for practical new ways of working – closer co-operation, more joint projects, and greater pooling of budgets across local public services – all of which could help avoid duplication, unlock savings, and enable bold new ways of tackling local problems . It is councils, with their democratic mandate, which have the authority to bring different players around the table and make this happen. Second, the duty to involve comes into force on 1 April. The past 18 months have seen a wonderful and welcome surge of activity across the country, putting communities in control of the decisions that affect their daily lives. Local authorities have led the way with practical action, such as participatory budgeting, asset transfer, citizen forums, neighbourhood contracts, volunteer drives, town hall open days and more. They have reaped the benefits of services which get it right first time, better value for taxpayers' money, and a renewed sense of local pride. Once this was the preserve of a brave few. Now it must be core business for all. Third, we are now concluding the review and refresh of local area agreements. This process has given fresh evidence of how new freedoms are enabling local authorities to get to grips with local priorities. And, faced with the global downturn, the framework gives us flexibility. We all know that in some areas, what seemed like a reasonable target just nine months ago for affordable housing or worklessness is now, with the best will in the world, out of reach. Whitehall has been open to negotiate refinements where that makes sense locally or, as some councils requested, to look again next year. In the meantime, the focus is clearly on delivery rather than process. It all adds up to a system which is mature and realistic, with targets that are both relevant and stretching. Fourth, the new month sees the establishment of nine new unitary councils, making an immediate difference to more than three million people across England. It is natural that there have been some challenges getting to where we are, but the promise today is immense. The change means not only efficiency savings of at least £100M a year after one-off transitional costs, but also the opportunity to rethink local delivery from square one. Residents, rightly, expect their new councils to hit the ground running, delivering not just bread and butter but the jam too. These changes are taking place at a difficult time. Some might argue that the downturn and all its challenges militate against change. But I argue that today's new demands make reform more important, not less. Taken together, the changes coming into effect hold out the prospect of better value for taxpayers' money, and better local services more tailored to local needs. This could hardly be more important. We all know, though, that even the best-designed framework is not an end in itself. It's what we do with it that counts. Negotiating the new landscape will call on all of local government's leadership, ingenuity and courage. So, I suggest we mark this local government New Year with a time-tested British tradition – a resolution to use it to the full. Hazel Blears is secretary of state for Communities and Local Government

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WHITEHALL

Window on the future

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