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In the latest edition of the London Review of Books, Ferdinand Mount makes the point that although the UK has successfully bequeathed strong models of federalism and decentralisation to the Commonwealth and post-war Germany, within the country itself, the issue has ‘remained a fad for pointyheads’. Amen to that. A few years back, when Localis published Hitting […]
With the long-awaited publication of the Government’s buildings and heat strategy earlier in the week, we now have a clearer sense of both direction and pace for the immense challenge of making our homes fit to heat in the age of net zero. It’s a salient fact that even by 2050 we will still be […]
Why are we shocked when properties built on floodplains are inundated with water? Let us not forget what a floodplain really is. It is not just a piece of land near a river. It is part of the riverine system. And as the name would suggest, it is supposed to flood. In July 2021, heavy […]
For some among the Conservative Party tribe descended upon central Manchester, there’s a roar as deafening as the drumbeats and shouts of ‘Tories out’ echoing from protesters gathered outside the Midland Hotel. It’s the roar of internal complaint about planning reform and dissent at the direction of housing policy. In a way their external enemies […]
Anxiety about being left behind, abandonment in all senses, is quite a pervasive condition. The autumn/winter parliamentary calendar remains chock-a-block with legislative agenda to tackle the ‘left behind’. The Archbishop of York has dusted down his copy of David Goodhart’s The Road to Somewhere and begun the August silly season sermonizing on behalf of the […]
Whatever the stringencies of the next long-term finance settlement, we can guarantee that the public sector, en masse, will be spending upwards of £300bn in the next year buying goods and services – or one in every three pounds the public sector spends. It should be noted that the UK is only middling in terms […]
After prime minister Boris Johnson spoke of ‘catch up ketchup’ in his detail-light ‘levelling up’ speech in Coventry, Localis head of research Joe Fyans asks if devolution and local leadership can provide the special sauce required. To decry the ‘levelling up’ agenda for a lack of policy substance feels somewhat redundant at this point. In […]
The summer season is upon us and it feels life is back in some kind of rhythm, no matter how stilted it seems, a fortnight away from the full relaxation of lockdown. At national political, the end of term could be marked by the possible arrival of the much-awaited levelling up white paper and the […]
Last Wednesday while Dominic Cummings’ testimony was dominating national attention, Localis convened a policy debate on what a long-term approach to the funding of local services might look like in the current context. We assembled The MJ’s very own Michael Burton, Abdool Kara, executive leader, local services from the National Audit Office (NAO), Lancashire CC’s chief executive […]
If timing is everything, there’s never a good time to talk about local government finances. In the spring it is ousted to its rightful place in the fiscal pecking order below health, defence and education – with a bone or two thrown into pothole relief. Summer’s a washout. When we are back to school in […]