By David Williams
19 October 2010
Councils have urged the European Union to adopt a ‘Total
Place’ approach to grant allocations, arguing that simpler funding arrangements
can cut waste and encourage more effective local spending.
A report released by the Local Government Association today argues that three EU funds should be combined into a single funding source. The study argues that councils or Local Enterprise Partnerships should be allowed to set the priorities for how the cash is spent, and integrate it with other local budgets.
Dave Wilcox, chair of the LGA’s European and international board, said that all levels of government were being forced to adapt to the effects of the recession.
‘It’s essential that reforms being undertaken at home are
matched by changes at the EU,’ he said. ‘A confusion of funding streams makes
the process of getting money from Europe far more bureaucratic and wasteful
than it should be.
‘Combining those pots of money and allowing more flexibility would enable councils to do more with it,’ he added.
The LGA report slams the way that the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, and the Rural Development Programme for England – all of which devolve EU cash to UK councils – are currently administered.
It criticises the existing system for forcing European priorities onto local neighbourhoods. The LGA argues that EU funding is fragmented, complicated, difficult to use and expensive to run, and that it is financially unsustainable to manage them separately.
An LGA survey also found that 62% of councils felt that EU funding was disproportionately complex, while 95% believed that administrative burdens were putting off their third sector partners applying for funds.
