Cuts with a future

Ok, cuts in Local Government are underway.  Many areas are worried and do not know what to do.  Now before time pressures mean that we start madly slashing away, we in the local government community urgently need a plan, not just for the short term cuts, but also for the long-term.

In my view, cuts without due regard to longer term place stewardship and retaining an ability to think and act strategically are potentially pernicious and deeply damaging.  If they are implemented clumsily, with narrow value for money as the sole concern, they have the potential of hollowing out the longer term capacity to act. They could irrevocably weaken core services and put locations in peril by leaving local government ill-equipped to deal with future economic turbulence, environmental change, planning adaptation requirements or social events. 

Therefore, whilst accepting some public sector cuts, we must also look to the longer term and think about what the challenges could be.  There are clear red lines which we should not cross.  These red lines are ill thought through cuts which result in loss of power and a reduction in corporate research, strategic planning and intelligence functions. 

Local government is and should remain the glue, the connector with capacity which ensures strategic place stewardship and the effective delivery of public services.  We cannot irrevocably denude the ‘corporate brain’ of local government. That would be a disaster.  At this time, corporate research and strategic planning is of more not less importance. 

For example in economic development terms, we need to retain an understanding of how the commercial and the social sectors operate within a place and how they can contribute to service delivery.  It means delivering on the Local Economic Assessment. Non - statutory service areas such as Economic Development may look like easy pickings.  However, this service area contains future economic success of a locality and to to cut may just stoke up problems and it is a is a false economy. 

In Total place - the whole area approach to public services, cuts are viewed as an opportunity, as a chance to do things differently, to be more efficient.  This is correct.  However, I am not sure or convinced there is enough focus on the longer term challenges, corporate power and function, capacity, place making and resilient capabilities in dealing with future shocks and change. 

Cuts need to be intrinsically linked to power now and in the future. Total place cannot be solely about the public sector coming up with cuts and making the harsh decisions, whilst ultimate strategic power dissipates in an uncoordinated way.  We cannot have a cuts which merely create a warped equation which means less resources = less power.  As Total Place partially indicates, in a time of less resources we need more power over them, not less.  We need an escalation of local government influence, power and place stewardship. However, it should not be about some perverse ‘race to the bottom’, or some tortuous horse trading to get more central resources where the harder you cut the more plaudits you will get. 

Therefore, before any cuts should be made, we need a coherent plan. This plan needs to consider what to cut, for how long and what its consequence on power and strategic place stewardship could be.  We must acknowledge that all cuts are not efficiencies and recognise the difference and be honest.  By making a cut, are we irrevocably retaining or undermining future strategic capacity?  Cuts cannot jeopardise the capacity which ensures expertise in a particular area.  It may be about reducing direct service delivery but the cuts must not reduce confidence to act, including leadership capacity, intelligence gathering, understanding and power.

To ask this question is to start to create a system of cuts with a plan, which help to ensure effective place resilience in the future. These are cuts that acknowledge the strategic opportunity, but know there will be challenges ahead which will require understanding and leadership. These are cuts which recognise the ongoing need for more power. These are cuts with a future.