Nathan Elvery

Nathan Elvery is chief executive of West Sussex and former chief executive of Croydon LBC
  • Mentoring could be your game-changer

    15 August 2023

    Nathan Elvery explains the many benefits of taking time to be mentored, and explains what to expect from the mentoring process.


  • Performance: are we learning from history?

    04 April 2023

    Eleven councils have been caught up in intervention or improvement since 2010. Did the Comprehensive Performance Assessment framework provide a crystal ball to the future, knowing what we know today, asks Nathan Elvery.


  • Is there a local government blueprint?

    12 October 2020

    If the sector misplaces its energies into structural reform, the point of what matters most may be missed, says Nathan Elvery. He argues that local government should perhaps instead select what works, and shape places and enable lives accordingly.


  • Let’s not paper over the cracks

    14 July 2020

    Nathan Elvery examines the impact of spending cuts on councils and communities over a decade and highlights that they are dealing with COVID-19 while balanced on a precarious cliff edge.


  • A reawakening of society?

    13 May 2020

    Nathan Elvery says that through the daily accounts of heroic action during the COVID-19 crisis, society is set to fall back in love with the public sector.


  • Don’t play the hokey-cokey with health

    16 April 2019

    Local government has turned public health around despite funding cuts. Now it not the time to think about returning the service to the NHS, argues Nathan Elvery.


  • If empowered, councils can achieve much more on public health

    09 April 2019

    Rather than seeking to downgrade the role of public health within local authorities we should be seeking to enhance it, says Nathan Elvery.


  • A fork in the road to austerity

    18 July 2018

    Could CIPFA’s plans to create a financial resilience index for councils help rescue local government from further catastrophe? Nathan Elvery explains why he thinks a ‘traffic light’ rating could be heading down the wrong road.


  • Navigating a sea of trust

    27 February 2018

    The quest of every chief executive is to build trust and to recognise this skill creates an inspired workforce which is both empowered and confident, writes Nathan Elvery


  • Time to throw off the shackles

    10 January 2017

    Nathan Elvery has worked in every tier of local government. Here he warns the sector it risks being constrained by a focus on structural reforms


  • As the crow flies

    10 November 2015

    When the landscape was predictable, the ‘straight line’ approach worked. Now, writes Nathan Elvery, the route to financial health is much more complex


  • The benefits of localism

    20 February 2013

    Nathan Elvery on how localism can be contrasted with regionalism and centralised government.


  • Simple and direct action about the things that matter

    03 October 2012

    The things which matter most to our local residents – those which improve their lives – are not that complicated, says Nathan Elvery.


  • The wow factor of the Olympics

    15 August 2012

    Nathan Elvery asks what next for the Olympic legacy?


  • A greater share in a growing economy

    18 July 2012

    Nathan Elvery explains his views on the need to demand a greater share in a growing economy.


  • Get your ducks in a row

    04 July 2012

    Nathan Elvery suggests councils get quacking on cuts.


  • Retaining skilled players in local authorities

    13 June 2012

    Nathan Elvery says now is the time for local authorities to retain their skilled players on the choices to be made ahead.


  • Money Matters

    09 May 2012

    Nathan Elvery describes how Croydon LBC has had a controlled financial year without reverting to freefall.


  • Surviving the challenge of change

    04 April 2012

    Learning to set medium-term budgets in a short-term world is part of the long-term influence we must bring about, says Nathan Elvery.


  • The good people at DCLG

    29 February 2012

    Preserve the child in you says Nathan Elvery