Alex Thomson in The MJ: Look at the nuts and bolts
Author: Alex Thomson, Localis |
Alex Thomson writes for the MJ on how councils should and shouldn’t learn from one another.
It won’t have escaped most MJ readers that local government is in the midst of massive transformational change.
This has both positive and negative elements, as well articulated in the Local Government Association’s Comprehensive Spending Review submission, which notes the huge cost pressures the sector faces over the coming years, but also pushes for radical devolutionary reforms.
Given the challenging outlook, it is not surprising that many authorities have looked to one another to identify ways in which they can ensure services are delivered more efficiently and more effectively.
And often this means going to talk to their peers about what they did and how they did it.
Of course there are always some places leading the way.
Some innovative councils that I talk to say they have hosted many dozens of delegates from across the sector.
Interestingly, these authorities also say that in many cases these visits don’t result in anything more concrete than warm thanks.
In some cases I suspect this may be because the medicine prescribed is just a bit too strong to be contemplated politically.
But in many cases it may be the realisation that the very uniqueness of places that makes localism an (in my view) unanswerable proposition also means that individual areas’ approaches and schemes often lack ‘replicability’.
The tri-borough arrangement in London, for example, was very much a product of a particular set of personalities that needed a confluence of timing and politics to work.
And the ephemeral nature of these relationships is illustrated by the fact that all six chief executives and leaders who brokered the project have since left their posts.
Who can say if it could happen again?
Greater Manchester is another example.
As many budding devolution deal areas have found out, securing a deal the size and complexity of Greater Manchester’s is an extremely difficult task without the demonstrable unity of purpose and history of joint-working that Greater Manchester can point to.
This isn’t to say that authorities cannot learn from another ? or from a think-tank.
But when they do so, they should perhaps look more to the nuts and bolts of implementing projects, including the things to avoid ? rather than to the headline agreements which are invariably a product of the precise politics and especially the mix of personalities in a given area.