Localis
Why we need to talk about floodplains
Continuing to build new homes in floodplain areas without resilience measures is a planned catastrophe, writes Localis’ Grace Newcombe.
How to build communities
We need a long-term approach to investing in housing and placemaking that puts the needs of communities first, says Jonathan Werran – and greater transparency will restore local trust in the planning process.
Planning for posterity
If we want to ensure the younger generation doesn’t miss out on housing opportunities, the focus has to be on what will endure and models that support the longer picture in placemaking, says Jonathan Werran.
EXCLUSIVE: Councils push back over reserves raid threat
Council chiefs have pushed back as the Treasury eyes up the sector’s reserves in the run up to this year’s Spending Review, The MJ understands.
Skills devolution key to levelling up
A panel of experts brought together by the Localis think-tank discussed how to bring about economic growth at a local level.
Sector should challenge ‘poisonous narrative’ around commercialism
Councils should not be held back from responsible commercial investments because of high-profile failures by their counterparts, according to a panel of experts.
LEP Network: Councils should have greater role in review
Councils should have a greater role in the Government’s ongoing review of local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), a key figure has said.
Sharpening the commercial edge
The case for well-managed council commercial activity is one that needs to be defended if we want a mature and sustainable local state, argues Jonathan Werran.
EXCLUSIVE: Councils urged to 'sharpen commercial edge'
A new report has argued that allowing councils to sharpen their commercial edge will ‘unlock immense latent place potential’ and help ‘galvanise recovery’.
Doing ‘deliverology’
Jonathan Werran says that, although Dominic Cumming’s select committee performances are a ‘longshot for engineering a radical change’ at the centre, there is perhaps an opening for the local state to seize hold of.
A level of uncertainty
A Levelling up White Paper will emerge later this year, to replace the long-promised legislative proposals for local recovery and devolution. What does this augur for the role of local government? Martin Ford reports.
Devo must focus on economy, says think-tank
Devolution needs to focus on rebuilding the economy rather than local government reorganisation, a think-tank has claimed.
No accord on levelling up
An analysis by Localis calls the Government’s Plan for Growth ‘a centralist strategy’ in which ‘the question of devolution is not given much emphasis’. It's not surprising that confidence in the programme seems to be draining away, says Paul Marinko.
EXCLUSIVE: Cross-cutting regions project faces Whitehall downgrade
The scheme was designed to unite Whitehall departments and regions across the country.
Trio drop out of flagship fund
Three local authorities have now dropped out of the Government’s flagship Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF), it has emerged.
Let's make sure Transforming Public Procurement delivers beyond SW1
We shouldn’t allow Greensill to distract us from asking what needs to change centrally to release the true value of economic, social and community value at the level of place in the commissioning and delivery of public services, says Jonathan Werran.
Sector urged not to give up on health devolution
The sector should not give up on securing future health devolution deals despite the Government’s ‘centralising tendency,’ experts have urged.
Fiscal devo ‘would avoid need’ for legal challenge to levelling fund
A legal challenge of the ‘troublingly opaque’ Levelling Up Fund would not be needed if the Government introduced fiscal devolution, a think-tank boss has claimed.
At the right level
As the heart of the UK's knowledge and biotech economies, Oxford urgently needs urban leadership powers to deliver regional growth crucial to national renewal and recovery, writes Jonathan Werran.
A toolkit for good governance
Launched this week, a new framework for examining complex local governance challenges focused on behaviours and culture provides a ‘common language’ to talk about risk, says Lord Bob Kerslake.
