Greetings friends and colleagues!
Today is D-Day for the White Paper on Devolution, setting out the Government’s intentions for local government across England. We will continue to attempt to help Government shape better solutions and your comments are welcome.
I shall be looking to see if it is genuine devolution of powers, not currently held by local Government. Guidance on infrastructure, transport and housing is already held in our councils. Any extra funds need to be additional to what the councils are already getting, not skimmed off what would have gone to councils. We will want to see how having an additional layer of government, can be an advantage. Democratically, we will also want to see how representative are the new authorities and responsive to their residents. Dissolving councils to form bigger unitaries under the Mayoral authorities will make it harder to maintain Independents and smaller parties. Colin Copus’ report “Bigger is still not better” is as relevant as ever. We will need to work to bring what changes we can to the final legislation.
Responding to changes in the National Policy Planning Framework (NPPF)
This week the Government announced sweeping changes to the planning system. Many of you, like me, will have responded to the two-month consultation. The mandatory targets for new houses remain, totalling an unrealistic 1.5 million target for extra homes, but little control to make the houses of types to match local needs. The NPPF also introduces green belt development with golden "rules” requiring developers to provide essential infrastructure such as schools and transport, as well as affordable housing as now for all development, but still limited by the viability assessments.
The LGA has responded pointing out that a top-down approach will not work. Local councillors know their local areas and understand their local communities best. It is not councillors who slow up development, a million permissions are given, but unbuilt, as land banking enables developers control the market price. Worse, developers build for profit, not need. We have many large houses built and still the homeless remain homeless. An arbitrary number of dwellings does not ensure that the types of houses are designed to match local needs. Furthermore, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has warned that there are skills shortages in the sector, from planners to builders, estimating tens of thousands of new people will have to be recruited if we are to reach Labour’s ambitious target.
Our Councils continue to identify ‘empty homes’ and bring them back into use. Action on empty homes estimates nearly 700,000 homes in England are standing empty, and over 265,000 are classed as ‘long-term empty’. If you know of any empty homes within your local authority area, please report them using the website!
Learning from other Councils - a city with no buses!
Tram trains that smoothly commute in and out of the city of Karlsruhe in Germany have replaced buses. Bus control systems from Karlsruhe are being put into London Buses right now, though delayed by the recent cyber attack in the London transport system.
Green transport was the key issue at last week’s Leaders Summit of over 150 leaders from 40 countries, including a cross-party group of four from the LGA. CEMR is the first and broadest European association of Local and Regional Governments, working hand in hand with their communities to address global challenges.
Local governments are on the frontlines of delivering climate action, digital innovation as well as social transformation. In the UK, our unique position as local leaders with local knowledge of our communities makes it clear that any kind of local government reorganisation leading to more mayoral combined authorities, risks overlooking regional disparities, missed opportunities and a failure to meet citizens’ expectations. The CEMR is in agreement with us that decentralising funding management to our local authorities will not only enhance transparency but also ensure resources are channelled by the right people where they make the most significant long-term impact. Europe has much smaller authorities with Mayors representing fewer people and thus clearly more local and more accountable, than the huge regions proposed in the White Paper.
Seeking a new Chair of the LGA Fire Services Management Committee
Cllr Frank Biederman has now resigned as our representative on the Fire Services Management Committee. Thanks to Frank for all his work as Chair of the LGA Fire Services Management Committee. We will look to appointing his successor in the New Year.
Last chance for ‘EARLY BIRD’ Spaces - Independent Group Conference, Friday 10 – Saturday 11 January 2025
Don’t forget to book for our upcoming Independent Group Conference! 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 & Public Affairs Manager for the Children’s Society). The agenda programme has also been released and our main highlight of the conference, on Saturday 11 January, will be discussion and debate on Devolution, Reorganisation and Reform.
Citations and Awards
Also at Conference, we will be presenting our citations and the Clarence Barrett Award along 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 out the nomination form or else get in touch with the Group Office for further information!
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.
And finally…
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 towaiting 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.
Have a good week!
Best wishes,
 Councillor Marianne Overton MBE
Leader of the Independent Group
Vice Chair of the Local Government Association
www.local.gov.uk/lga-independent
Reforming local government finance
The LGA, together with SOLACE and CIPFA, have published a joint report on reforming the Local Government Finance system in England. The report outlines steps needed to help councils balance their books in the short-term and also makes proposals for longer-term reform.
LGA Councillor Standards questionnaire
At LGA Annual Conference, the Deputy Prime Minister announced the Government’s intention to consult on possible changes to the local government standards framework. To support the LGA in responding to the expected consultation, we are seeking the views of members and officers on a range of topics relating to standards arrangements through a short questionnaire. The questionnaire has been sent directly to all councillors and monitoring officers. However, responses are also encouraged from chief executives and independent persons; monitoring officers have been asked to share the questionnaire link as appropriate locally.
The deadline for responses is Thursday 9 January 2025. If you or your members have any questions about the questionnaire’s content, please contact Jessica Norman
Dates for the Diary
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.
Tuesday 18 March 2025, 10.30am - 3.30pm, London
Join us for the second annual LGA Transformation Conference in spring 2025. Engage with transformation practitioners in a day of inspirational speakers and interactive sessions. Discover new strategies to drive organisational change – learn and share experiences and forge lasting connections in a supportive and collaborative environment.
Friday 28 March 2025, 10.30-12.00pm
The third and final webinar in our early help series will build delegates understanding on collaborating with partners, in particular schools, to develop and deliver effective early help services for children, young people and families. Delegates will hear presentations from councils on their experience of delivering effective early help services, join breakout discussions to share practice and hear from Foundations and the LGA on the webinar series.
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.
|
