Government Must Widen The Participation Of Local Councils In Community Budgets

The Local Government association (LGA) is warning that community budgets can be a catalyst for economic regeneration and growth in local communities but that opportunity could be missed if the community budget programme is not extended beyond just four councils.

The LGA say that community budgets can actually drive the government’s localism agenda as they would be decided at the community level based on its own needs and opportunities.

The current model of decision making in remote Whitehall could be turned on its head with this model.

last week the Communities and Local Government Committee in Parliament issued a report arguing that much more could be done to boost regeneration in communities, calling on the Government to "maximise the contribution of community budgets to regeneration and lead the way with a joined-up approach at national level."

Early pilots of community budgets to help families with challenging needs have proved very effective and this approach could be replicated for many other policies. Not only were substantial savings found in these pilots, but the levels of service on offer to families improved significantly too.

Government steps up the process for an elected Manchester Mayor

Mancunians are to be asked their views on whether they should have an elected mayor.

Manchester,along with 11 other English cities is to be asked to contribute its views on what powers it would like an elected mayor to be able to exercise on its behalf.

The move follows the Coalition Agreement which set out the Government's commitment to create directly elected mayors in the 12 largest English cities outside London, subject to confirmatory referendums and full scrutiny by elected councillors.

Leicester has recently elected a Mayor. The Government is now planning for referendums to take place in 11 other cities - Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield - in May 2012.

Where people vote in favour, the city will move to an elected mayor.

Rather than imposing a standard set of powers says cities Minister Greg Clark, the Government is launching a consultation to give local people a say over what they would want a mayor to be able to do on their behalf.

The consultation invites people who live and work in the 12 cities to contribute their views on the proposed approach for giving powers to city mayors, the powers that should be transferred, and on how mayors can best be subject to local scrutiny.

Mr Clark said:

"English cities aren't just home to millions of people; they are cultural powerhouses and economic dynamos. Cities will play a crucial role in driving and sustaining our economic recovery, and I will do everything in my power to help them thrive.

Telegraph provides more ammunition against local councils

An interesting story on the front of the Telegraph this morning and one which will no doubt anger those who see public servants at the front line of cuts in the next fiscal year.

Apparently says the paper,Council chiefs in England and Wales have refused to disclose the salaries of thousands of senior staff, claiming it would lead to a public outcry.

This despite

The Government having ordered local authorities to disclose the earnings of all executives after concerns were raised about the size of pay increases granted to council officers.

adding that

local authorities claimed that the pay disclosures would leave their staff vulnerable to reprisals from taxpayers. They argued that officers would be subjected to “personalised attacks and mischief making”.

Now David-how committed are you to local government

An interesting piece from David Blackburn over at Coffee House.

He asks how deep is David Cameron’s commitment top empowering local government,arguing that the opposition leaders response to New Local Government Network’s latest report will be an indication.

The main driver to the report is that elected mayors should raise or cut business rates and council tax, and spend the proceeds on local services.

According to Blackburn,

Cameron is determined to extend mayoral representation, so it makes sense for him to adopt the report’s recommendations and augment mayoral power – there is no point in electing a flock of municipal lame ducks.

Whilst Britain has as good as declared war on Iceland,little attention is being given to the reasons why the various local authorities invested in Icelandic banks in the first place.

Rupert George over at Three Line Whip writes of one council's policy

Wychavon District Council didn't lose that much money when the Icelandic banks folded, only £1.5 million.
Instead of leaving the bulk of their reserves in cash, they invested £15 million in the towns of Pershore and Droitwich. In Pershore they have built and leased a hospital to the NHS. In Droitwich they have built a superstore, currently leased to Waitrose. The council taxpayers of Wychavon are still receiving a 7% on their investment, as well as benefiting from improved public services and a boast to the local economy.
If the £1 billion of council tax payers money sitting in Icelandic banks had been invested in a similar manner the benefits would have been tremendous.

Portillo agrees with Salmond over local income tax

I notice that Michael Portillo has come out in favour of local income tax.
Earlier this week the SNP announced as part of its fiscal policy that it would scrap council tax and introduce a local income tax in its place.

Portillo writing in the Sunday Times this morning says that

The debate may well be confined to Scotland and to how it will shape attitudes to independence there – but it should not be. If we altered the way local authorities raise their money, we would change the nature of our country for the better

Portillo brings out the two arguments for it that it allow a greater degree of social justice and that more importantly

raising the money in that way would enable local government to grow in scope and importance. By comparison with almost every country I know, we suffer from chronically weak local government and from central government that is too powerful

Pickles tells Tory Councillors not to cooperate

This morning's Guardian carries a scope claiming that Conservative councillors have been told not to cooperate with the Labour government with the chances of David Cameron being in Downing Street increasing.

According to the paper

Dozens of the Tories' most powerful council leaders were told about the plan during a closed meeting in Nottingham with Eric Pickles, the shadow communities and local government secretary.
Pickles, who masterminded the party's win in the Crewe and Nantwich byelection, said the time had come to stop working with central government on issues they disagree with. "The time is overdue for Conservative councils to stand up to this bullying and controlling government on behalf of their communities. It is time for Conservative councils to just say no."

I hope that this isn't true.Councillors of whatever party are elected to do a job for the local people and if this move jepodises that outcome then it is a sad reflection on local democracy.The election is two years away

Local election coverage

Five candidates are to stand in the Miles Platting and Newton Heath ward at the local elections which will take place on the 1st May.

The result last year ended in a narrow win for Labour in a ward which will see a two way fight between the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates.

Cllr Christine Carroll is standing for Labour again. She currently serves on the communities and neighbourhoods committee and the standards committee on Manchester City Council and is a member of the Manchester Fire and Civil Defence authority.

Up against her is Damien O'Connor for the Liberal Democrats. He stood last time and got within 61 votes of winning the seat. He is editor of the Miles Platting and Newton Heath focus.

The other candidates are Vaseen Valentine for the Conservatives, Jonathan Mercer for the Green party and Joseph Cegla for the British National Party.

The tussle between the top two will centre on two issues. Which of them gets the credit for a number of community initiatives in the area? Secondly the record of Damien O'Connor who has stood for a number of parties including Labour and UKIP as well as allegations of fraud when he was last a councillor.

The sitting Labour councillor will come under pressure due to the backlash against the party at a national level. Her Liberal Democrat opponent is using the national Post office closure programme in his campaign material He claims that the main post office is under threat but this will not be announced until after the elections.

Councillor Carroll stands by Labour’s local record in the past year. Newton Heath’s market was under threat until it was taken under the wing of Manchester Markets following meetings between Councillor Carroll and Chief Executive Sir Howard Bernstein. She has also joined local residents in challenging plans to upgrade the refuse plant in the area.

For the Lib Dems, Damien O’Connor stands by his record as part of the local party’s Focus team in attending to local issues such as fencing schemes, alley gates and new walls.

I asked existing Councillor Marc Ramsbottom what issues the party would be fighting on. Top of the agenda was crime and anti social behaviour but he also cited lack of consultation about improvements in the area as well as measures to eradicate fly tipping and improvements in the quality of workmanship in social housing.

For the Tory candidate any improvement on the number of votes cast last time will be seen as a victory. Manchester is a barren place for Tory councillors currently having only one seat, and that as a result of a defection

Launching the party’s local election campaign in Dewsbury earlier this week, David Cameron claimed that the party in local government were better value for money, greener and had a better record on crime.

“These elections really matter. Local people and communities expect their
councils to deliver good service and value for money. And to play an active role
in improving the quality of life

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague on a visit to the city said the party

“Will continue to target Manchester in a bid to prove themselves the true `national' party”

In reality it is going to be a straight fight between Labour and the Lib Dems on May 1st.

You can read more of the manifesto's here

Liberal Democrat

Labour Party

Conservatives

Disenfranchised Locals

I could not help but notice the story on the front of today's Manchester Evening News which claims that

A HOTLINE for people to help decide how Manchester council should spend its £468m budget has received just one call.
Thousands of leaflets were distributed at an estimated cost of £1,300 urging the public to take part. They could give their call the hotline, use email or send a letter.
But the hotline rang only once and just six letters and 21 e-mails were received - all out of a population of 442,000.

Bernard Priest, the council's executive member for finance, said:

"It is always disappointing if there is a limited response to this type of consultation, but it is really important to give taxpayers a chance to let us know their views on how their money is spent.

Disappointing may well be an understatement,but onece agin this shows local democracy at work.People are simply not interested and the consequence is that large spending budgets are left in the hands of people who rarely come under piublic scrutiny,It's not their fault but how many of us bother to vote at local elections.

At the last local electiuons in Manchester in May 2007,turnout in the various wards hovered around the 25% mark.

The electoral commision asked to report on the woeful turnout figures for the 2005 general election concluded that there was a great deal of work to be done by all parties in engaging the electorate.

In this respect then Manchester needs to do a lot more