Greetings friends and colleagues!
Devolution White Paper
Local government reorganisation in the White Paper has thrown many District and Unitary Councils into consternation. Under the guise of devolution, it is hard to identify exactly what is being devolved and what exactly are the advantages for our councils, as it is not the half million plus residents in each new combined mayoral authority who get a vote, it is the upper tier leaders get to make the decision whether to go ahead or not, and of course, it is also those who stand to gain. This also undermines our belief in the democratic commitment, that we have come to expect as elected members, or is it starting as they mean to go on?
Deputy Councillor Caroline Jackson and I have raised these points directly with the Minister, Jim McMahon MP. Even though reorganisation was not in their manifesto, there seems little room for manoeuvre.
Independent Group Conference, Friday 10 – Saturday 11 January 2025
Places are going fast for our upcoming Independent Group Conference in January. To date, we have 71 members attending and this is your chance to book now before it's too late. If this is your first time attending our conference, please come along and meet like-minded people and discuss shared issues and some of your local challenges. More importantly, hear from guest speakers such as: Ayoub Khan MP, Independent Member of Parliament for Birmingham Perry Barr, Professor Colin Copus, Jess Norman, LGA Senior Adviser for Democracy, and Georgia Power, Regional Policy and Public Affairs Manager for the Children’s Society.
In addition, I am also pleased to welcome our new LGA Assistant Chief Executive, Helen Jenkins, who will be joining us at our Group Dinner as well as Justin Griggs, Head of Policy and Communications at the National Association of Local Councils. The agenda programme has also been released and our main highlight of the conference, on Saturday 11 January, will be an hour long discussion and debate on Devolution, Reorganisation and Reform.
Citations and Awards
We will be presenting our citations and the Clarence Barrett Award at conference on Friday 10 January at our Group Dinner. The Award recognises those councillors who go above and beyond in their work, to contribute something significant to local government and residents. Last year's recipient was Councillor Sue Baxter, Deputy Leader of Bromsgrove District Council. If you know of a councillor who has made a significant impact for an individual or community group, we want to hear from you! Fill our the nomination form or else get in touch with the Group Office for further information.
LGA new Assistant Chief Executive
Last week, I was pleased to say a few words at the farewell party for Claire Holloway, LGA Company Secretary and Head of Corporate Services, who is celebrating retirement. Claire is a formidable figure who boasts a proud record of 40 years’ service within local government. We shall certainly miss her and on behalf of all our group members, I want to put on record my thanks and appreciation for all the help and support Claire gave to our members. At the same time, I would also like to congratulate Helen Jenkins who was recently appointed as the new Assistant Chief Executive for the LGA. Helen has previously appeared and spoken at our Next Generation Programme and I look forward to working with her going forward.
Executive and LGA Board
Last week, our Group Executive met to reflect on our recent Special General Meeting at the LGA Annual Conference in Harrogate. Since the motion to change the name of the Group was left unresolved, it was agreed that a special working group be set up to discuss ways of moving forward and keeping our unity intact. Other items discussed were our upcoming conference and also the devolution white paper. Members are in agreement that further devolution, with fewer councillors and more Mayors, can only lead to worse representation not better. If there is to be genuine devolution then the adequate amount of money that is rightfully ours must follow!
Royal Town Planning Institute
The Royal Town Planning Institute held their awards ceremony last week. Congratulations to our members in Cornwall whose climate emergency plan won, with my Council, North Kesteven, being one of the finalists.
Congratulations also to Herefordshire Council for winning the Planning for the Natural Environment section and the Independent-led Orkney Islands Councils, one of the finalists. As we increasingly look to consultants, winners were Prior and Partners, with Atkins Realis and nineteen 47 commended. Overall winner was Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, with just two of our group councillors, for their regeneration strategy.
You may want to have a look for some good ideas.
Remote attendance at council meetings focus groups
As you know the Government has launched a consultation on options to allow councillors to attend council meetings remotely and to use proxy votes. Please do make your views known as the deadline is 19 December.
Reforming the Right to Buy consultation
Similarly, a government consultation on the ‘Right to Buy’ is now out and again, I encourage you to make your views known. Whilst Right to Buy has benefitted many in the past, it has left a huge void in the housing market with sold houses not being replaced sufficiently, adding massive pressures to waiting lists. The consultation asks for views on:
- the qualifying criteria for tenants
- initial and maximum discounts as a percentage of the property value
- which types of properties should be exempted under the scheme
- whether there should be increased restrictions on properties after sale
- the replacement of homes sold under the Right to Buy
- rules governing the use of Right to Buy receipts and how these could be simplified
The consultation runs until 15 January.
Asylum move on timeline – temporary extension
After many months of discussions with the Home Office and MHCLG involving members and local authority Chief Executives, the Home Office have confirmed that the “move on” or “grace” period imposed on newly recognised refugees will double from 28 days to 56 days, as an interim measure from 9 December 2024 until June 2025 as part of the current backlog clearance programme. This has been a top ask to help address rising homelessness among refugees. We will now be collecting evidence of the impact of this measure to make the case for Government to legislate to make it permanent.
This increases the time between an asylum applicant receiving a decision and having to leave their Home Office accommodation in line with existing statutory responsibilities. Councils will be able to start support from the point the Asylum Decision Letter is issued to a newly granted refugee, with Home Office providers to notify councils within two days of this. Further information will be placed on our website and please contact your Strategic Migration Partnership with any queries.
Pathways to Planning – open for applications
Councils can now sign up to Cohort 3 of the LGA’s Pathways to Planning programme, giving access to a talented pool of graduate planners at no cost. The programme includes a bursary for graduates’ postgraduate study. For more information contact the team or visit the Pathways to Planning website.
Improvement and assurance framework
To accompany the publication of the improvement and assurance framework for local government, we have produced a guide for councillors, which aims to support elected members to take appropriate measures to gain assurance both of the performance of their authority’s services and of its corporate governance.
And finally…
Local Government Disability Champion’s Network
As part of this year’s Grant Determination Letter the Local Government Disability Champion’s Network were tasked with creating a themed report. As part of this work, they have produced case studies using their networks. Each case study is about a specific project/outcome, based on an interview with a member, officer or project team and is prefaced in the exec summary by the fact that the inclusion of the case study doesn’t mean that the council is doing everything ‘right’ by way of accessibility, or that these are the only examples of good practice out there, but that the case study is an example of good or emerging practice in using co-production methods with members and officers. The official online launch is this Friday from 10.30am until midday. Please do join us!
Have a great week and do sign up for conference!
Best wishes,
 Councillor Marianne Overton MBE
Leader of the Independent Group
Vice Chair of the Local Government Association
www.local.gov.uk/lga-independent
Community energy
This week Councillor Adam Hug, Chair of the Local Infrastructure and Net Zero Board cosigned a letter to Rt Hon. Ed Miliband MP, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, alongside Regen, Welsh LGA, UK100 and the Consortium of Local Authorities in Wales seeking to keep local and community energy on the same agenda as bigger projects that will be the focus of the Clean Power Plan.
Change NHS: Have your say
A nationwide conversation about the future of the NHS is underway, led by the Government. ‘Change NHS’ is seeking views on three key shifts: from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and treatment to prevention. The more local government voices that feed into the process, the more the sector will be able to influence future design decisions positively. The deadline for councils to submit a response to the portal is Monday 2 December. We would especially encourage you to reflect on practical preventative interventions (including public health); neighbourhood hubs and approaches that bring health and council services together; and ways of working between social care and NHS that promote ‘home first’. The LGA will be publishing its submission to the portal in due course, you can read our emerging response on our website.
We are also asking councils to share with us good practice examples and your responses' to the portal by emailing the team.
Dates for the Diary
Thursday 12 December 2024, 2.00pm - 3.30pm
This webinar looks at the important role of scrutiny within a council. It will examine the legal background and role of councillors in the overview and scrutiny process. As well as providing practical insight from an experienced councillor, it will also look at into effective work planning and questioning skills.
Friday 13 December 2024, 10.30am - 12.00pm
Launching a case study report highlighting good practice across local government, this virtual session will share insights into how taking a co-produced approach can improve outcomes for disabled staff and councillors, and their communities.
Thursday 9 January 2025, London
The LGA’s in-person annual Local Government Finance Conference is on Thursday 9 January 2025 at Smith Square. It will address the 2025/26 Local Government Finance Settlement and look forward to the multi-year spending review.
- Session 1: Wednesday 22 January 2025, 9.30am to 12.15pm
- Session 2: Thursday 6 February 2025, 9.30am to 12.15pm
- Session 3: Tuesday 25 February 2025, 9.30am to 12.15pm
Our transformation action learning sets provide a unique development opportunity for councillors and officers to work with peers to explore solutions to transformation challenges in an action learning set environment. Please express your interest in the series you will be available to participate in via this registration form. For any queries about the series please email Tom Denman
Tuesday 11 - Wednesday 12 March 2025 | Gateshead
The Annual Fire Conference and Exhibition is a key event in the conference calendar for senior fire officers and members of fire and rescue authorities. The conference provides an opportunity to meet in-person and discuss key strategic and practical developments impacting the fire and rescue sector over the next twelve months.
Tuesday 1 – Thursday 3 July 2025, Liverpool
Join us in Liverpool for the biggest event in the local government calendar, where we’ll be discussing the latest issues affecting local government.
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