Local elections
Right now, great results for our group are pouring in for our Independent Group councillors. If you are still counting, good luck! At just over the halfway mark (65 out of 107 councils), Independents have made a thumping gain of 111 per cent, and Greens a magnificent 87 per cent; including the Residents Associations who gained one, making seven. The overall gain for our Independent group as a whole at the halfway mark is 105 seats, doubling what we had before. We have by far the biggest gains in proportion to our current number. In total, even the number of Independent Group seats gained is second only to Labour.
So far, Conservatives have lost 243 seats, with gains going to Independents and residents Associations 78 new seats, Greens 26 new seats, Lib Dems 35 and Labour 100.
Congratulations also to our members also standing in Mayoral, PCC, Town and Parish Council elections. (Notably the new Grantham Parish Council with 18 of the 22 members elected being Independent.)
If you are on X, you might follow and tweet on @LGA_Independent Group to let us know. You may also like to copy positive messages to my facebook or @overtonmarianne. Good luck to all our members.
The results of the London Mayoralty and Assembly elections will come through late on Sunday.
After weeks of campaigning and canvassing, congratulations on your achievements. I know how hard it is, especially when standing for the first time! Whatever the result, it takes courage to stand for what you believe in and serving your residents and communities is an enormous privilege. Elected or not, you will have changed the way people think and laid a sound foundation for anything you want to do in the community now or in the future. Every vote is a personal vote of confidence in you, their first and only choice on that ballot, and every vote matters.
Independent Network
It has taken many weeks of preparation and hard work to prepare for these local elections, and for our members, it is even harder without the finances and massive resources of the major parties. Thanks to Councillor Karen Lucioni who did a brilliant job in leading and promoting the Independent Network ‘Candidate School’ for those interested in standing to be a Councillor. The weekly sessions were well attended, and we are grateful to all our guest speakers for sharing their expertise with like-minded individuals. Please register with the Independent Network, which includes useful tools and resources to help candidates and councillors and regularly hosts online training and development sessions.
Thank you also to the Association of Green Party Councillors who have been very active in supporting our Green Councillors through the council elections. Wales did not have major local elections this year, and councillors continue to be supported by the Plaid Cymru Councillor’s Association. Thank you to them and to all our colleagues.
Changes in political leadership after the local elections
Please take advantage of our excellent member peers, who are available to help you with any possible changes of control, no overall control and/or changes to councils’ portfolio holders and leaders, following today’s results. All our member peers are ready to respond to forthcoming requests for peer mentoring and the LGA has updated its own information page, covering every type of scenario that may unfold. Useful guides include the ‘The 12 components of effective coalitions’ and ‘New council leader – a practical checklist’. Also, we welcome any emerging intelligence you may have on developing scenarios within councils over the coming weeks, which we shall store in our database, so we can more readily respond with appropriate offers of help and engagement.
Newly elected councillors
To welcome newly elected councillors, the LGA, with the Group Offices, will be hosting a virtual event on Wednesday 19 June from 2.00pm until 4.00pm. If you have new members elected this coming week, do let them know and encourage them to attend. More information will come directly to councils or contact us in the Group Office.
Debate not Hate
Unfortunately, in these local elections, I continue to hear and witness acts of abuse and intimidation, whether it is online or in-person, within our democratic process. Let me re-iterate there is no place for abuse and intimidation within our democracy. Candidates have the right to go about their campaigns free from harassment, abuse and intimidation. I recently wrote an article for ‘Politics Home’ where I made this point and also stressed the need for the Government to ‘introduce legislation that would allow a council to proactively withhold councillors’ home addresses from the public register of interests as soon as possible’.
Peer interviews
This week at the LGA, we began interviewing members interested in becoming new Member Peers, led by our National Lead Peer Councillor Adam Paynter and supported by some of our regional peers. The quality of applications has been excellent, demonstrating a wide variety of skills, knowledge and expertise, which will benefit our group and our peer support offer in the long run. If you are still interested in becoming a Member Peer, please get in touch or if you just want an informal chat about the role, please contact the Group Office. We particularly welcome applications from underrepresented backgrounds.
LGA ‘Be a Councillor’ programme 2024/25
The Independent Group shall once again be hosting its own information session on the LGA flagship LGA ‘Be a Councillor’ programme 2024/25. This is a nationwide campaign which helps fund information and awareness sessions and events for councillors wanting to promote local government and what it means to be a councillor. We receive government funding to help members promote the campaign throughout England. Our partners in Wales run their own national campaign. To find out more or to attend the information session, please contact the office.
East of England Independent Conference
If you are an Independent Councillor or activist in and around the East of England, the regional Independent Conference is taking place at: The Essex, Earls Colne, Colchester CO6 2NS. Everyone is welcome and I am pleased to host this exciting event alongside the East of England Regional Lead Peer, Councillor Jo Beavis. For more information, please contact either me or Jo Beavis directly. It will be a chance to hear our work in the area, the local issues and our action plan going forward.
LGA Annual Conference 2024
There is still time to register for this year’s LGA Annual Conference in Harrogate, from the 2 – 4 July, with much planning and preparation being put into place. Alongside our political group sessions and plenary session, the Independent Group will also be holding its Annual General Meeting from 10am on Tuesday 2 July. You can attend for free - just register with the Group Office. Any motions for the Independent Group to consider need to be sent into the Group Office before the 18 June. All prospective motions are reviewed by the Independent Group Executive and if taken forward to the AGM, the proposer must attend in person or via a substitute to speak to the motion.
And finally, may I wish you all a very restful weekend after what has been a very busy few months and have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend!
Last call: NGDP Finance Graduate Scheme
The National Graduate Development Programme (NGDP) Finance Graduate Scheme is a specialised stream within the NGDP, offering a four-year programme dedicated to developing future local government finance leaders. We worked on an initial London-only pilot but are now exploring whether there is sufficient interest to expand the scheme nationally for cohort 2, to start employment with councils in summer 2025. If your council is interested in taking part, please let us know by completing the expression of interest form by the end of April. If you have any questions about the scheme please contact the NGDP Finance Team.
Pavement licensing guidance
On 31 March 2024, the Government commenced the pavement licensing provisions laid out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023. The provisions introduce a permanent pavement licensing regime to replace the temporary provisions introduced by the Business and Planning Act 2020. New guidance on the permanent regime has been published.
Tackling extremism
The Government has published a new definition of extremism, updating the one in the 2011 Prevent Strategy and to reflect the evolution of extremist ideologies and the social harms they create.
It is defined as the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred, or intolerance, that aims to:
- negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or
- undermine, overturn, or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or
- intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2).
Further context for the definition and its application are available online.
Towards a healthy weight: Local government action to improve children’s health
Local councils across the country are embracing a variety of strategies to promote children's healthy weight. These LGA case studies offer valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with promoting children’s healthy weight at the local level.
Giving children the best start in life: shining a spotlight on health visiting
These LGA health visiting case studies illustrate the important role health visitors play in ensuring children and families get the support they need in challenging times.
LG Inform report on sport and leisure
This new LG Inform report provides an overview of sport and leisure activities in a selected geographical area by highlighting metrics which cover physical activity, attendance at sporting events, museums, nightlife, and more.
LGA early years education and childcare survey
The LGA is committed to understanding any challenges that the expansion to the existing early years entitlements will create and has launched a survey to identify any support or guidance that may help local authorities ensure there is sufficient childcare for children of working parents. The survey has been extended until Friday 10 May. All single tier and county councils have been sent their own unique link to the survey. If your council has not received its unique link, please contact Keiron Watt.
Children’s mental health - working group
Concerns related to poor mental health and the impact this has on young people’s lives are well documented with councils and partners needing to support more young people. In response to this, the LGA has developed a councillor working group to share good practice and ensure progressive asks of Government. We are particularly looking for areas of good practice. If you have a project or initiative, you would like to share please contact Flora Wilkie.
National Children and Adult Services Conference 2024 - workshop bids
The National Children and Adult Services Conference (NCASC) is a must-attend event for councillors, directors, senior officers, policy makers, service managers and those with responsibilities for children and adult services in the statutory, voluntary, and private sector. We are now taking bids to run workshop sessions at the conference. For more information, please visit the conference website.
11th Annual Construction Conference
The National Association of Construction Frameworks (NACF) are hosting the Annual Construction Conference in association with the Local Government Association (LGA) on Wednesday 8 May in Leeds.Hear from experts and peers as they explore how to maximise procurement efficiency, value for money and local, community impact in a world of increasing pressure and limited resources.
Audit guidance
We have published guidance to support audit committees in the form of 10 key questions. These questions are for Audit Committees to ask of themselves, management, and internal and external auditors. The guidance provides information on what to expect as answers, as well as roles and responsibilities.
Audit, scrutiny, and risk
The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny has published a guide on audit, scrutiny and risk to support members of audit and of scrutiny committees to understand the key elements of risk management and the respective roles of audit and of scrutiny committees in providing appropriate challenge and support to authorities’ risk management practice.
Fire service pay offer
The Fire Service National Employers have made a pay offer to the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) for a four per cent pay rise, to extend occupational maternity pay to 26 weeks at full-pay, and to enhance the retainer fee structure for on-call firefighters (from January 2025). The FBU will now consult with its members.
Planning enforcement
The Royal Town Planning Institute has published an updated planning enforcement handbook for the package of enforcement measures included in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 which came into force yesterday. The handbook funded by DLUHC will provide best practice advice on how to effectively deal with a range of enforcement challenges.
Dates for the Diary
Thursday 16 May 2024, 10.30am – 12.00pm
This virtual event will look at the raft of policies coming into force in waste and recycling services over the next few years and how they could affect service delivery costs and the way services are funded. It will also look at the potential for councils to maximise their resources in preparation for the reforms.
Tuesday 21 May 2024, 1.00pm – 2.30pm
This virtual event will examine how councillors can balance pressures and expectations and develop effective time management strategies. It will also examine the related issue of personal resilience and how councillors can avoid burnout and stress through a number of practical steps.
Thursday 23 May 2024, 10:30am – 12:00pm
Join this session to hear about the latest updates to the Greenhouse Gas Accounting Tool and the Waste Emissions Calculator. Further options for recording Scope 3 emissions including Anaerobic Digestion for waste treatment will have been added. You will hear from Councillors, council officers and climate experts from Local Partnerships.
Tuesday 4 June 2024, 1.00pm – 3.00pm
Part of the role of a council leader is to decide what to focus on and act strategically. This interactive workshop will give you tools and techniques for: listening for what’s being said, questioning and listening, letting people know you’ve heard them as well as finding your way through information to help you move forward.
Tuesday 2 - Thursday 4 July 2024 | Harrogate
Join us in Harrogate for the biggest event in the local government calendar, where we’ll be discussing the latest issues affecting local government.
Thursday 11 July 2024, 1.00pm – 3.00pm
When making decisions, it is important to do against a basis of good evidence. This webinar aims to show you how to use the numbers to tell an effective story, so that everyone can understand what you want to achieve.
Licensing Leadership Essentials Wednesday 16 October - Thursday 17 October 2024 | Warwick University
A two-day interactive course aimed at chairs and vice chairs of licensing committees, focusing on how good committees are run. The course and accommodation costs £200. For more details, please contact Grace Collins
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