What was unveiled earlier today is a form of ‘contactless devolution' in which the HM Treasury view of how local government in England should function for the sake of the wider UK state has prevailed. 

This is mainly configuring English local and regional government to meet the needs of housing delivery, skills and general growth while keeping the show on the road for the continued delivery of social care, temporary accommodation and other hard-pressed local services.

Although it might well seem that the writing is on the wall for district councils, from previous experiences we must wait and see that the white paper's stated hope that ‘reorganisation should not delay devolution' comes to pass amid a fierce rear-guard action and unexpected political chicanery

Fixing the foundations for all this requires stable platform for local government finances, so the move to multi-year settlements, ending of bidding pots and emphasis on reform and prevention all point in the right direction.

Localis also warmly greets the decision to reform the local audit system to recover lost standards of assurance and scrutiny by giving greater clarity of audit and accounts and through much simpler leadership and regulation, a plan of action and ethos our recent report ‘Present Tense' advocated for.

The Treasury made sure the Levelling Up agenda of the last government was dead on arrival through its refusal to countenance fiscal devolution. 

Here, the Treasury mind has killed off the hopes of any trifling but welcome revenue a tourism tax could bring our localities and instead resorts to greater business rates retention as the only game it is taking to town. 

Failure to countenance fiscal decentralisation, as is common in most developed countries, and afford our strategic authorities the genuine devolutionary ability to raise and spend funds locally for growth measures removes a necessary pillar of strong locally led economic development - single-settlements notwithstanding.

Although it might well seem that the writing is on the wall for district councils, from previous experiences we must wait and see that the white paper's stated hope that ‘reorganisation should not delay devolution' comes to pass amid a fierce rear-guard action and unexpected political chicanery.

With a more positive spin on council collaboration, moves announced in the paper on getting to immediate grips with strategic planning and spatial development strategies, something Localis advocated for in our ‘Design for Life' study in May are to be warmly encouraged.

Little noticed, but significant for its inclusion is mention of need to improve local data to improve decision0making in placemaking and local public services, as well as to hold strategic authorities to account for their performance. 

This echoes the call made by Localis in our ‘Level Measures' report from 2023 to establish sub-regional data centres as hubs able to compete with the private sector to attract skilled analysts as shared resources for councils across wide geographies to collate and analyse public service data.

As a final point, although many of the measures outlined in the white paper are a form of continuity devolution policy which takes forward the patchwork achievements and plans of previous governments, and seeks to create a single navigable and framework in which the rules of the game are understood, as a whole its ambitions will require a ‘decade of renewal' rather than a single parliament to fulfil.

Given the frenetic pace of political change in the western world this year, we should consider whether it is worth betting the house on this quite yet.

 

 Jonathan Werran is chief executive of Localis