Councils almost unanimously want more financial autonomy from central government, according to a think-tank survey of 200 local authority leaders.
Councils should be allowed to buy themselves out of the national business rates system and retain local tax revenues, to encourage them to stimulate economic growth, a thinktank said this week.
Challenging times demand radical responses and for the local government finance system inaction is no longer an option.
For many people, mention of parish councils leads inexorably, if unfairly, to thoughts of The Vicar of Dibley.
More than 95% of local authorities want more control over business rates, according to a survey by local government think-tank, Localis.
Local authority leaders and chief executives almost unanimously want greater financial autonomy for their councils, according to a survey carried out for think-tank Localis.
Almost all councils in England (99.5%) want more fiscal autonomy, according to their chief executives and council leaders a new survey from the localism focused think Localis has revealed.
After debate stretching at least 35 years, it can only be the most optimistic who are confident that we are at last ready to seriously address the nagging issues of how we fund local services; incentivise good government and clarify just which set of elected representatives is responsible for what.
Ministers should allow councils to buy themselves out of the national business rates system and retain local tax revenues to encourage authorities to stimulate economic growth, a thinktank has proposed.
All of a sudden, local government finance is a hot topic, so it is good news that Localis has an in depth report out on Monday. The punningly titled The Rate Escape, which has been produced in partnership with Ernst and Young, will advocate that councils should be allowed to retain more of their locally collected business rates, cutting the apron strings from central government to once again let local authorities see real benefits from growing their local business rates base.