Local government in the United Kingdom is generally acknowledged as over-centralised, particularly the system in England and Wales. Much of the centralisation stems from the New Public Management reforms of the Thatcher era. This move to direct the English local authorities reflected a history of a high level of mistrust between the then Conservative Government and local authorities which, more often than not, were controlled by either the Labour Party or the Liberals/Lib Dems. Whatever about the political manoeuvrings this did result in a genuinely centralised system of government where Whitehall could and did set direction for the English local democratic process. The move towards a revitalised local government system under successive new labour governments did little to change the substantive constitutional position of local government in England. As a result much of the centralising tendencies of the Thatcher era remained despite on-going efforts to create a more autonomous local government system. The limitations of New Public Management thinking remain. While the focus on meeting centrally determined targets and obligations may have reduced, relative to other local government systems, (including arguably the Irish system!) the English system continues to battle with an over-powering Whitehall which limits the scope for independent policy-making at the local level.
This is despite having had a comprehensive review led by Sir Michael Lyons in 2007 which placed the role of local government at the heart of the community and the places it serves. His work, which could be regarded as a leading perspective on the role of local government in the 21st century, highlighted a dynamic place for a re-vitalised local government system, something that could well be examined in the Irish case. Sir Michael suggests that the move towards modern local government requires thinking which has a focus on the delivery of effective local public services. Equally however, the limitation of reform to service related delivery alone is not sufficient if local government is to become a central feature of developments in local democracy. The key as he succinctly argues is to have a local government system which can focus on:
The well-being of the communities served by local democracy
The capacity to understand and respond to the needs and concerns of its citizens
Embracing a wider place-shaping role where democratic processes are underpinned by active citizenship
Further strengthen their engagement with those they serve
Establish themselves as unequivocal champions of value for money
Such thinking got lost in the scale of reform undertaken by the then New Labour Government. Nonetheless the incoming Conservative/Liberal Democrat Government seems to have taken up some of Sir Michael’s thoughts as they roll out their thinking on the “Big Society”. The British Prime Minister has placed this at the heart of his political agenda under the leadership of a Minister for Decentralisation, Greg Clark M.P. The result is that the British Government seems to be grappling with the need for greater devolution of powers and responsibilities to local government. In Ireland decentralisation is almost a dirty word associated with short term political antics. In European terms it has a more radical impact in that it is absolutely not about scattering various national offices across the country-side but rather is generally associated with the enabling of local decisions, control and accountability.
Under the political heading of New Localism, reforms are now making their way through Parliament. So just what is “Localism” all about and are there ideas which might be of relevance to the reform of local government in Ireland?
In some respects the thinking could arguably be seen as catching up on some of the reform processes which local government in Ireland has had to apply since the implementation of Better Local Government. The concept of ultra vires was abolished in Ireland in the 1990’s. The Localism Bill currently in the House of Lords will finally see this concept confined to history in England. The abolition of national and regional bodies charged with over-seeing local service standards will also be something that will be familiar to people working in and with Irish local government. Less so the move to abolish regional economic strategies which would seem to fly in the face of international best practice. In many public service reform processes the argument is made about underpinning a stronger regional policy dimension to the organisation of public services.
Of interest however from an Irish perspective is the move to expanding the role of the executive mayor model across the major cities in England. The Bill envisages a series of local referenda in each of the cities to determine the need for such a role along with an expansion of powers for the London Mayor. In this the British Government is following a general international trend towards Executive Mayors. The thinking here is clearly built upon the work of people like Parkinson, Cheshire and Magrini, Kaufmann, and Krugman. They quote a McKinsey 2010 report that: “A key impediment to the growth of the UK’s leading cities has been a lack of sufficient control at the local level”.
So there may be relevance to at least the major cities/gateways in Ireland in what is being planned.
In many respects what is really innovative in the Bill is its approach to planning, and more importantly community focused initiatives in addressing the place-shaping role which the Lyons Report highlighted as so central to vibrant local government. In basically a complete turn-around on the previous twenty or more years the Bill, when adopted, will dramatically shift the focus on planning back to local democracy and public participation. As already noted the Bill will see the abolishment of regional strategies. More significantly there is to be a much changed approach to local planning with: ” Neighbourhood planning will allow communities to come together through a local parish council or neighbourhood forum and say where they think new houses, businesses and shops should go – and what they should look like… Local communities would also be able to grant full or outline planning permission in areas where they most want to see new homes and businesses, making it easier and quicker for development to go ahead”
The role of the local authority in this instance will be to provide technical assistance to the process and to ensure that the plans prepared are embedded into their own planning processes. In some respects, the thinking seems to parallel the approach being taken in a number of cases in Ireland, such as in Mayo through the community futures programme managed by the development board with the support of the forward planning team in Mayo County Council. More interestingly is that the Bill when adopted will mainstream such initiatives into the broad place-shaping role of English local government, something that should be examined in Ireland as the implementation of a renewed sub county regime is put in place. The Bill will also empower such communities to build their own facilities and to take over community facilities which a local authority or other public body may be considering divestment. To allow this to happen the concept of local community levies is provided for, something similar perhaps to the Community Fund provisions which the Local Government Act, 2001 envisaged.
Also of relevance is the introduction of a right of challenge for local communities in regard to the implementation of local authority policy. In part this is already the case in Ireland, particularly in regard to the planning process. In that respect the English system is moving into a similar framework to that in Ireland but more generally this new right seems to have a wider impact in the general policy processes of the English local authorities.
Unlike Ireland the English planning system was overseen by a national planning inspectorate. This is now to be more restrained in what it can do to influence local planning policy while the English version of the Strategic Infrastructure Board in Ireland, the Infrastructure Planning Commission is to be abolished. Decisions on critical infrastructure will once again be taken by senior ministers to reflect their democratic role.
Local policy responsibility in social housing provision is also to be expanded with the decision to allow local authorities retain their housing rental income rather than have it put into a national pot for subsequent distribution among the local authorities. The authorities are also being given greater freedom to develop their own Homelessness Policies.
The Bill has several exciting developments, most notably from an Irish perspective, the move towards community based planning. However, and something also highlighted by the Lyons Report, there has to be genuine concerns in English local authorities about how all this is to be resourced. There are broad statements in the policy about resourcing local communities as they develop their own plans and drive development in their communities. What is considerably less clear is where the substantial resourcing for such initiatives is to come from. Lyons acknowledged that the tendency in reforms to date was to build in considerable cost-shifting from central government to local government, further constraining the capacity of the local authorities in England to play a genuine place shaping role. This argument could also be made in Ireland.
Nonetheless, while many of the reforms in the Bill are in place in Ireland there would be real merit in examining the proposals on community planning. The re-configuration of local government in Ireland brings with it the challenge of enhancing local participation while the local democratic process is streamlined. Perhaps, and experience in Ireland might support this, the move towards the localism of England at least in regard to community planning, might be a useful model.
Now that has to be a welcome change from generally looking at the English system and viewing it with a lack of interest when compared to the Nordic systems!
For a plain English Guide to the reforms see http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1923416.pdf
The Bill itself may be accessed at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2010-2012/0100/lbill_2010-20120100_en_1.htm
