Beyond the fragments, by Judy Hirst

19 Apr 11
Localism used to be something councils got excited about. Give us the financial and legal freedoms, they would say, and we'll do great things. Just like the French communes, Swiss cantons and Swedish municipalities. The clamour for a new localist agenda got ever louder under the dirigiste New Labour regime.

Localism used to be something councils got excited about. Give us the financial and legal freedoms, they would say, and we’ll do great things. Just like the French communes, Swiss cantons and Swedish municipalities. The clamour for a new localist agenda got ever louder under the dirigiste New Labour regime.

But, one year into coalition government, the localist dream is turning sour. Austerity measures on an unprecedented scale have fragmented communities and pitted one deserving service against another.

As Tony Travers argues in this month's cover feature, local government is taking one of the biggest hits, resulting in a postcode lottery of cutbacks. And – DCLG assurances notwithstanding – the poorest areas are suffering most. Localism increasingly means passing the buck for central government cuts to local authorities.

Ministers are playing a protracted blame game, with Communities Secretary Eric Pickles claiming some councils have made unnecessary reductions to frontline services. Chancellor George Osborne recently told the Treasury select committee much the same thing.

With the government feeling the heat in the local elections – and forced to press the pause button on its flagship NHS reforms – it is convenient to displace public anger on to local authorities. But it is leaving councillors and officers in a very uncomfortable place. Councils must bear the blame for the closure of libraries, Sure Start centres and older people’s services, yet they are still subject to endless Whitehall diktats on everything from rubbish collection to royal wedding parties.

Meanwhile there is little sign of significant financial freedoms being extended to local authorities, other than the – potentially divisive – proposed reform to business rates.
Ironically, one byproduct of this fragmented picture is the impetus that austerity has given to shared council services (see 'All in this Together'). Necessity being the mother of invention, a number of councils are combining both back and front-office functions to save costs.

Where this leaves localism and accountability, coalition-style, is unclear. Ministers are keen to stress that what they want is more power to local people – not local councillors. So how, in this brave new world of super-councils, will the public shape and influence local communities?

And how will ‘free councils’ – able to repatriate their business rates – not result in even more economic and social divisions? It’s localism, but not as we thought we knew it. We should be told.

Judy Hirst is deputy editor of Public Finance magazine

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