By Richard Johnstone | 11 November 2011
The Community Budgets programme should be expanded so councils are free to provide better public services, the Local Government Association has said.
The LGA today accused Whitehall of ‘hindering’ councils and warned that limiting the number of Community Pilots risks missing a ‘great opportunity’.Councils yesterday submitted bids for the four new ‘whole place’ Community Budget schemes, covering all services, were announced by Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles last month. The LGA said town halls had made ‘dozens’ of submissions.
Two councils will be chosen to be part of a whole area budget scheme, where all funding for public services within council boundaries will be merged to allow for a focus on local priorities. This is similar to the Total Place pilots undertaken by the last Labour government.
Another two pilots will undertake a similar process but at neighbourhood level.
The LGA said that current attempts by councils to provide better services and value for money for taxpayers are ‘hindered by Whitehall departments [where] too often decisions are made hundreds of miles from the local areas they affect’.
Arguing that Community Budgets could ‘turn this model on its head’, chair Sir Merrick Cockell called for the scheme to be extended to meet demand.
He said: ‘Councils understand the needs of their communities and are best placed to run local services, provide value for money and boost regeneration efforts.
‘As the most trusted and efficient part of the public sector, it is right that councils are given the tools to tackle deprivation in the country’s most disadvantaged areas.’
The four schemes form part of the second phase of the Local Government Resource Review, and will be used to test how Community Budgets can be used to give local people more control over their services.
Another 16 pilots which pool money to tackle social problems around families with complex needs are currently underway. The government has announced there will be another 110 of these in the next two years.
The LGA argues that the existing schemes have improved services and found substantial savings, and should ‘be replicated for a host of other policies’.
