PluggedIN – why we need even more transparency in local government
Author: Alex Thomson, in the MJ |
Football and local government dominate my thoughts more than they do for most, I suspect. And while there are some parallels between leadership of football clubs and councils, they aren’t the same thing.
In football it’s very simple, there is only one measure of success ? put the ball in the (opposition) goal frequently enough to win games. Local government is rather more complicated; there are multiple goals, even multiple teams on the pitch, so assessing leadership performance is much more difficult. Which is why transparency is so important.
History offers plentiful evidence that secrecy permits, even fosters, corruption ? and that transparency is the best defence against the misallocation of power and resources wielded on behalf of the public.
The irreducible core role of those holding power is to make decisions. And in the democratic model, to be held accountable for those decisions.
Some of this accountability is provided by those who are elected in opposition, but it is also crucial that the electorate can see what decisions are made on their behalf, that they are made in plain sight.
Nowadays local government is pretty good at transparency ? cabinet papers are published online, meetings are open to the public, and there are myriad ways to get in touch with your councillor. Plus of course all council spending is itemised for those in armchairs and elsewhere to peruse whenever they like. But the future must be more transparent yet.
The next few years for the sector will be very tough, which is why it is more important than ever that decisions by those leading and running councils are taken in as open a way as possible.
They need to be transparent about the financial constraints within which the council is operating; about which services are being scaled back, and why; and, where councils adopt new models to deliver services, about how those models are constructed and what the measures of success will be (e.g. Barnet’s publishing of contracts with Capita).
And councils need to be clear and vocal about the financial benefits that economic and housing growth can bring to local areas ? tackling the NIMBYs and their comfortable presumptions head-on.
But hopefully there will be silver linings too. Not just the long overdue swing of the pendulum back to a more mature view of development, but more dynamic engagement all round with local citizens ? so that more people find themselves thinking about not just football, but local government too.
Alex Thomson is chief executive of Localis