Dear All
Another month flies by with a pleasing ‘whoosh’, and it’s time to write to you all again.
The presidential highlight of the month was attending the conference of the Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO), held in Liverpool. It was a lively and engaged conference and also a bit poignant because John Austin, who has chaired ADSO since its creation in 2009, stepped down at conference and handed over the reins to Peter Sass.
John also entertained us the night before by performing a song written by the grandfather of the new Local Government Minister Alison McGovern called ‘In my Liverpool Home’. I already knew the song because it was performed by the 1970s Liverpool folk group Spinners who were the only Liverpool supergroup as far as my parents were concerned.
I was fortunate that ADSO allowed me to be on the Q&A panel. One of the questions we were asked was about the neighbourhood governance proposals in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. I’ve been quite surprised by the concern expressed about these proposals so I thought I would set out what I think….
NEIGHBOURHOOD GOVERNANCE
I honestly don’t think neighbourhood governance models be competing with parish councils in some kind of village hall ratings war. Neighbourhood governance and parish councils can exist in the same places without causing difficulties. Parish councils and neighbourhood governance are not the same thing; done well they complement each other.
- Remember that not everyone lives in a parish. In Greater Essex, we have a little over 300 parishes, and less than half the population lives in a parished area. Even though many colleagues in district councils facing reorganisation are currently working to increase the number of parish councils, across England, there will still be millions who don’t live in a parish after reorganisation.
- Neighbourhood governance will likely cover a much bigger scale than most parish councils – it will cover an area much smaller than the principal council and much larger than a parish.
- Neighbourhood governance will be an opportunity to bring local decisions much closer to communities. I think there are three things they can do:
- They can fine-tune principal council services in their area – they may be able to make decisions about public spaces and even about local facilities which are run by the principal council. They will be able to allocate funding to meet local needs. That won’t need extra budget if there’s flexibility about how it can be used. They can do this while maintaining the economies of scale achieved by the principal council - services continue to be delivered by the principal council. It’s not the same thing as devolving services to parish level, though there’s definitely a place for that.
- They can act as a way for the public to raise issues of concern about public services and find out what’s being done about them. Because they are likely to serve a larger area than a parish it’s easier to get senior people from public services – council/NHS/police, and others to go to the meetings.
- If (a) and (b) are done well, meetings will attract local people to attend, which then creates an easy and ready-made way for the council to ask the public for views on local issues and to discuss them. It doesn’t replace written consultations but is a way of getting more detailed and immediate feedback from residents.
- I don’t think neighbourhood governance will necessarily be expensive. There will be a cost, but it doesn’t have to cost much. I’m pretty sure neighbourhood governance will cost a lot less than the administration of the abolished councils.
- Nor do I think it will be accountable- where else do all principal councillors elected for an area come together to talk to residents?
Appointment of LLG Board Chair
Last time I didn’t reveal the name of our new Board Chair as we were waiting for the Chief Executive’s communication plan. We are still waiting - so I am sure that must mean that the comms logistics are going to achieve levels of fabulousness which are off the scale. Meanwhile our new chairman is meeting the Board at our strategy day, kindly hosted at Sharpe Pritchard’s offices today (26 September). If you see someone descending from a helicopter in EC1 then no doubt that’ll be the communications operation whizzing into life!
Professional Body for Monitoring Officers
We’re still working on this. It’s a lot of work for the small (but mighty) team LLG but we are still on course for big announcements at the exciting governance conference in November.
Meanwhile enjoy the last of the summer sun.
That’s all for now
Paul Turner
LLG President
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