Can Councils work together?.....

....is potentially one of the most important questions for the future of the country's economic prosperity.  Especially if the Tories win the next General Election.

 

For this reason, Conservatives should read this report by the Audit Commission.

 

It evaluates Local Strategic Partnerships

 

Why do I think this is important?

 

Economic Development, even now, has a number of contributing factors.  One is always going to be the national picture - how is our economy doing, what are interest rates? and so on.

 

Another, I strongly believe, is location.  The reason I think this can be contentious is because sometimes it is more than just whether there is an empty building/site and is it close to roads/rail.  Sometimes/a lot of the time it has to be Nice.  Leafy Green areas are always going to be preferable to a shit hole.  Are the bars pleasant and fun, or are you convinced that if you put on a bad song on the jukebox you're going to be knifed?

 

Location is why Local Authorities are always looking for ways to spruce up their town centres, tear down their (usually) god-awful 60's designed buildings and create something locals can be proud of.  And so they should - that's what we expect!

 

Thirdly, is whether the city/town/area works. Can you get planning, are the roads swept, rubbish collected, local employment agencies efficient, open and interested colleges, etc etc.

 

Both these last two are dependent on a well-run local authority, of that there is no argument.  But at the moment we stand on the crossroads between two ideas on how to support this from the national government.

 

The regional agenda has seen RDAs in place with hundreds of millions of pounds to invest in local authority schemes, but also, crucially support them.  I accept sometimes this support might feel more like persuasion, but the key point is that dialogue occurs between local authorities and between councils and the RDA.  There is a feedback mechanism that tells people how things are going and what other ideas exist that might help them.

 

On the local level, within the LSPs, RDAs and Government Offices also provide support to individual organisations, sometimes with money, sometimes by strategies which show them the path to greater impact.

 

The second idea belongs to the Conservatives should they form the next government.  In this idea is the much looser arrangement of local authorities to define their own partners and, should they wish to, the right to devolve down to them powers and money from the RDA.

 

Crucial, absolutely fucking crucial to this, therefore is the ability of local authorities to deliver that joint working on their own, one part of which is LSPs - hence the Audit Commission report is important.  And the implications is that maybe Local Authorities are not so ready

 

Any other support will have to come from Whitehall - I would be intrigued to know if Whitehall is ready for that?

 

SH