More radical localism needed

Author: Public Finance - Oct 9, 2009

Policy Exchange and Localis released their report, Can localism deliver?, at the Conservative conference on October 7. It focused on the City Region Partnership project, currently being piloted in Greater Manchester, which grants additional powers to groups of councils that pool their resources on strategic policy areas.

The report praised the policy for improving the region’s economy, and recommended that similar powers be given to all councils.

But, despite advocating more partnership working between councils, it cautioned against a standardised version of the City Region Partnership being imposed on all urban economies.

The authors backed the Tory pledge to scrap regional development agencies, but went beyond the existing Conservative proposals to devolve RDAs’ powers over planning and housing to councils.

Responsibility for transport, skills and economic development should also be brought under council control, the think-tanks said.

Chiming with Conservative plans to grant a ‘power of general competence’ to councils, the study argued that the autonomy of local authorities should be presumed, not earned by hitting government targets.

The report also outstripped existing Conservative policy by calling for business rate revenues to be kept by councils. The measure would allow the rewards of economic growth to be reinvested in the city region, the authors claim.

Localis spokesman Mike Morgan-Giles said the overall approach fitted with Total Place, which is now being trialled in 13 regions around England. The pilots, run by the Department for Communities and Local Government, seek to make savings by considering local spending as a single sum rather than a set of ring-fenced budgets.

He said: ‘There’s no reason why that shouldn’t be extended to more areas.’ However, he added that it was important that such schemes were not imposed centrally.

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