Combined authorities will be central to a modern municipalism
Editor, Local Government Chronicle
The modern council is a very different beast to the hierarchical and paternalistic organisations of old. The best contemporary local authorities see themselves as stewards of their place, are alive to the power they have to drive change simply by getting the right local players in the room and value the voices of their communities and workforces. Rather than issuing diktats from the town hall, they are increasingly looking to operate at neighbourhood level and develop deep links into their communities.
Many councils are now seeking to build partnerships with residents and businesses to enable them to do more for themselves or in conjunction with the voluntary sector. Procurement is increasingly not about the lowest price but which providers can deliver the most overall social value.
Of course much of this has been borne out of necessity: having faced among the largest budget cuts in the public sector during austerity, councils simply could not carry on as they were. And it does not mean that all is well when it comes to the quality and availability of services.
This open and collaborative way of working is also far from universal, even within councils which are responsible for a dizzying array of services each with their own dynamics and sub cultures.
But more broadly there is a sense that something of a divide has opened up between those councils that realised fairly early on austerity and squeezed budgets were the new normal and those that hunkered down and waited for it to pass. The former seriously looked to transform how they operated when there was still fat in the system to do so flexibly, many of the latter are only now starting to move beyond salami slicing budgets whilst under extreme financial pressure, often via some failed experiments in commercialism.
So that’s where we are. What happens next? Councils are encouraged by the new government’s more respectful approach to local government and the repeatedly stated commitment to devolution. However, there is concern, particularly in places that do not yet have devolution deals, that ministers are too interested in metro mayors and combined authorities and do not fully appreciate the role of councils in their own right.
These are valid concerns but there is some exciting work going on in many of the existing combined authorities, particularly around skills and tackling long term unemployment. These relatively new players seem set to be central to a modern municipalism, an approach that is focused on economic growth as a force for good and recognises that good employment and stable housing are the best means of preventing demand for public services.