Fit for Purpose
'City deals' could be a real step forward
Ministers’ new ‘city deals’ suggest the government is getting serious about devolving power to cities, writes Allister Hayman
Amazing what you find down the back of a sofa...
Eric Pickles tells us that the £250m for his big bins announcement was the result of his austerity drive. Not quite.
Where are the edicts on commmunity budgets?
Ministers refusal to mandate the involvement of local agencies in the government’s community budgets pilots, is more troubling news for the much-vaunted programme, writes Allister Hayman.
In praise of Nick Clegg ... sort of
Nick Clegg was the bearer of good news at the LGA conference. But his annoucements on finance reform fall short of the radical reform he wanted.
UPDATED: LEPs - all in one place
Ministers have to date announced 34 new local enterprise partnerships. Here LGC provides a guide to the new LEPs, region by region, with all the councils involved and the boards of each LEP, as they are formed.
Users guide to new look DCLG
With councils still adapting to Eric Pickles’ bull-in-a-china-shop approach to Whitehall-town hall relations, it’s been easy to forget that our friends in Eland House have also been at the sharp end of a massive shake-up.
Newham wants Pickles in court
If David Cameron was serious about addressing problems caused by immigration, then there is something the government could do: ensure that the population figures it uses to determine the funding of local services are as accurate as possible. Newham council is now threatening legal action against Eric Pickles to make sure this is the case, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
Saint Vince's capitulation
UPDATED: 13 April. Vince Cable appears a greatly reduced figure and his weakness is bad news for the regions as it begins to look increasingly like his “department for growth” is unable to repel Treasury’s demands for a ‘fire sale’ of the RDAs land and property, writes Allister Hayman.
Camden versus the roundheads
Accusations have been flying over Camden Council’s decision this week to block the application for a royal wedding street party in Covent Garden by Republic, the organisation that represents the UK’s republican movement. As both a republican and a localist, chief reporter Allister Hayman has a go at refereeing the fight.
Quiet man imposes "high risk" JCP shake-up
While all eyes have been focused on Andrew Lansley’s troubled health reform, Iain Duncan Smith has been quietly putting in place a top-down reorganisation of his own, with a massive shake-up imposed on Jobcentre Plus. But the measures were described by his own officials as “high risk”, writes Allister Hayman.
The great RDA 'fire sale'
UPDATED 25 March: The unaccountability of the regional development agencies was a key reason for scrapping the quangos - or so we were told. Ironic, then, that ministers are now hiding behind that same unaccountability to allow the RDAs to keep their sell off plans for hundreds of millions of pounds of public assets out of the public realm.
Axes hangs over landmark 'Big Society' centre
Just a week after David Cameron relaunched his Big Society vision, a landmark community centre hailed by a minister as an ‘‘amazing model’ of the Big Society faces the axe, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
The limits of sharing
Ministers argue that the West London “tri-borough” proposal to share council services is an example of how Tory councils are innovating to protect their frontline from cuts. Behind the party political spin, the truth of course is very different, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
Big Society on the rocks
It was also going to be a job of work to create a flourishing civil society amid unprecedented cuts to public spending. Now with Big Society champion Phil Redmond admitting that Liverpool’s vanguard has been ‘subsumed’ by spending cuts the PM’s big vision looks all the more improbable, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
Clegg's battle for 'real localism'
Nick Clegg is fighting to stamp the Liberal Democrat’s brand of localism onto the coalition, with local government finance the key battle ground - and as chief reporter Allister Hayman writes, his support from the Tory right ought give Eric Pickles food for thought.
Cuts may blow away EU millions
Given the severe austerity imposed upon town halls one would assume that the hundreds of millions of pounds in European aid just waiting to be spent would be a boon for local economies. But it’s not that simple, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
LEPs look more & more like talking shops
David Cameron’s announcement of a new local enterprise partnership Capacity Fund seemed at first like a much-welcome boost to bodies that many fear may become little more than talking shops. But this excitement quickly dampened, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
The end of the beginning
Councils were expecting bad tidings from communities secretary Eric Pickles in the local government settlement and he did not disappoint. But this is just the end of the beginning, chief reporter Allister Hayman writes.
All I want for Christmas is a Localism Bill
The news that the publication of the Department for Communities & Local Government’s flagship bill has been postponed yet again risks the whole enterprise becoming something of a joke. But behind the appearance of mismanagement there are very good reasons for the delay - and they are not all the fault of DCLG ministers, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
Humble pie for Pickles? We do hope
Communities secretary Eric Pickles, is, in the Prime Minister’s words, the “Big Man” of the coalition government - ready to lead from the front in the austere drive to cut spending and bring down the deficit. But having delivered the toughest settlement of all to local government in the Spending Review, Mr Pickles was forced back to Treasury, cap in hand, to ask for more money. The answer was no. But now Mr Pickles is engaged in desperate efforts to mitigate the impact of his own cuts ...
Behind the spin: have ministers lost the plot on cuts?
Two weeks after Eric Pickles said it was a “fiction” that councils would be facing cuts next year of up to 20%, council chiefs are still none the wiser as to whether they should take this pledge at face value or continue putting in place plans for drastic cuts. Hackney LBC mayor and chair of London Councils has asked ministers for some guidance - in return he received what he called a “puerile” response. Councils and their residents deserve more, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
Pickles caught in porky pie
Eric Pickles was in feisty and combative form at the London Councils annual summit, dismissing those who opposed the cuts to housing benefit reform as “hysterical”. But it turns out that Freedom of Information evidence cited by the communities secretary to prove his argument doesn’t actually exist - at least not as he described it, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
Pickles revels in mutual contempt
There were a lot of things that the secretary of state could have talked about at the London Councils summit, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman. He could have put some flesh on the bones of the government’s thinking on the new devolution settlement between government, the mayor and the London boroughs; he could even have tried to reach out to his audience, yes the cuts will be tough, but we will be with you…Fat chance.
LEPs: real economic areas?
Ministers have given the green light to 24 of the 56 bids submitted to government to form Local Enterprise Partnerships. The idea of LEPs is that they must capture real economies rather than artificial administrative boundaries, but as a new analysis for LGC shows, politics may have inevitably played a part, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
Growth white paper: a digested read
The government’s much awaited local economic growth white paper is finally out. There is alot in it, although compared to the previous government’s subnational review (remember that?) it is rather slim at just 50 pages. But if you don’t have time to wade through it chief reporter Allister Hayman has provided a digested read.
Regional Growth Fund: 12 key players
Worth just £1.4bn over three years, the Regional Growth Fund is a pittance compared to the budgets of the regional development agencies and other targeted regeneration funds of the past. But as the only central funding likely to be available for renewal over the next three years it has taken on great importance. Here chief reporter Allister Hayman profiles the 12-member panel that will advise ministers on the bids.
The successful 24 LEPs
Here’s a full list of the Local Enterprise Partnerships given the greenlight by ministers this morning.
Business minister sets out economic vision
Amid the angst and hullabaloo of last week’s spending review, the quietly effective business minister Mark Prisk appeared before MPs on the business select committee to answer questions about the coalition’s plans for the future of economic development. It was a revealing session, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
LEPs: 22 bald men fighting over a comb?
Ministers have earmarked 22 of the 56 bids to form new Local Enterprise Partnerships as ready for the green light. Chief reporter Allister Hayman provides a guide to the bids that have found favour.
LEP priorities strikingly different to RDAs
Economic development consultancy SQW has put together a comprehensive analysis of 50 of the 56 Local Enterprise Partnership bids submitted to government. It makes for interesting reading, particularly in the different priorities that the LEPs have to the bodies they are set to replace, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
The devil is in the (£1.5bn plus) detail, Mr Pickles
They will go the way of Anne Boleyn communities secretary Eric Pickles was fond of saying of England’s regional development agencies, when in opposition. It was no surprise then that in entering government he acted quickly to bring about their demise. But due to this haste the government has been left with a £1.5bn or more bill to scrap the ‘costly and wasteful’ RDAs and no money to fund the activities they undertook, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
Boring but important: TIF, a primer
Nick Clegg was quite right yesterday when he said his announcement of new borrowing powers for councils would hardly make “the pulses race”. Lacking sex appeal, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) as the new freedom is called, is not the stuff of mainstream media. But as the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out, that doesn’t mean it isn’t important, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
LEPs need a legal footing
“It’s up to you,” Eric Pickles told councils when inviting them to put together proposals for Local Enterprise Partnerships. “Be as ambitious as you can. Be as radical as you like. Be as bold as you want. I’m not going to stand in anyone’s way.” Clearly that was never quite going to be the case, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
The geography of LEPs: final list
A detailed list of the 57 Local Enterprise Partnership proposals, region by region, that have been submitted to ministers for consideration.
Mill town partners focus on renewal
The government wants partnerships of local councils to join together across their boundaries and work with businesses to boost their local economy. Chief reporter Allister Hayman travels to east Lancashire to find out about plans being put in place by Blackburn, Burnley and their neighbours for a new Local Enterprise Partnership.
It's the (real) economy, stupid
Councils have been asked to come to government with proposals for new sub-regional economic development partnerships. But in many areas disputes are breaking out over the geography of these new bodies. As councils focus more on the question of who they might partner with, rather than what their partnership might be for, local government is in danger blowing the excellent opportunity it has been handed, writes chief reporter Allister Hayman.
LEPs: A swot's guide
Councils are hurriedly putting together proposals, with businesses, for new economic development bodies, called Local Enterprise Partnerships ahead of a 6 September deadline. Here LGC chief reporter Allister Hayman provides an update of what we know, so far, about LEPs and looks across the country at who is courting whom.
The shape of LEPs to come
Eric Pickles wants councils, of their own volition, to come together and form new economic development partnerships. But a lack of clarity on the form and function of these Local Enterprise Partnerships threatens to undermine the thrust of the reform as cities, counties and districts do battle over the shape of the LEPs to come.
The Big Society has no place in welfare plan
David Cameron spoke of a Big Society approach to tackling worklessness during the election campaign. But the coalition government’s welfare reforms are likely to shut out councils and third sector providers.
Not like Anne Boleyn, please
“They will go the way of Anne Boleyn,” new communities secretary Eric Pickles once said of England’s regional development agencies. But LGC chief reporter Allister Hayman writes that auguring in a swift demise for the agencies would be an error.
What can the Lib Dems deliver on transport?
Norman Baker has conceded that two of the Lib Dems key manifesto pledges on transport are unlikely now to be delivered. So what’s the point, exactly, of a Lib Dem transport minister within the coalition?
Barking & Dagenham: live from the count
Over the course of the election campaign there was much hand-wringing over possible gains by the BNP in East London. As it turned out the BNP vote in Barking & Dagenham - where leader Nick Griffin faced off against Labour incumbent Margaret Hodge - went down. Here you can read a a blow by blow account of the evening’s events..
What's the beef with Tesco Towns?
Tesco’s plans to create “mini-villages” have caused outcry - but done right they could provide much-needed housing and kick start the professionalisation of the private rented sector
Whither regeneration?
Over the course of the election campaign all three main parties have failed to come up with a coherent story about how they will take forward urban renewal if they form the next government - and with the Tories still odds on to form that government - the future of regeneration is unclear. But before Treasury wields the knive, it would do well to remember there are such things as false economies.
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