Local government must not allow its ‘victim' mentality to undermine the opportunities presented to it, says Nick Raynsford

Is local government its own worst enemy? This heretical thought occurred to me after chairing two very stimulating seminars in the past month. The first, organised by SOLACE and the Centre for Public Scrutiny, considered the lessons from the introduction of overview and scrutiny functions over the past six years. The second, organised by Rockpools, with the active participation of Sir Michael Lyons, addressed some of the key issues likely to emerge from the Lyons inquiry.