The severity of local government cuts announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review came as a shock to half of council finance directors, while almost all have denounced the front-loading, a survey shows.
New planning laws will give neighbourhoods more influence over the kind of developments they want in their areas, it has been revealed.
Councils are to be put in charge of encouraging healthier lifestyles under plans to be unveiled by ministers.
The forthcoming Localism and Decentralisation Bill will contain measures to help councils stimulate local growth through business rates, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced today.
Greg Clark, Minister for Decentralisation, gave a speech at Localis in which he outlined the government’s plans for a less confrontational and more locally shaped planning system.
The government is planning to use a happiness index to steer government policy, a move Localis has advocated in past publications including ‘Small State, Big Society’
The government has set a target for councils to offer personal budgets to one million social care service users by 2013 as part of its vision for social care, unveiled today.
In a consultation launched yesterday, the Department for Communities and Local Government suggested giving councils the power to recover the true costs of processing planning applications by varying their fees.
A group of councils is to submit radical proposals to the Treasury detailing how a shake-up of capital spending rules and estate management could save some 50bn across the public sector.
Details of the forthcoming Localism Bill revealed in the government’s business plan for DCLG indicate that local residents will be given powers to challenge councils on a range of issues