Elected mayors: To vote or not to vote?
The fast-approaching referendums on directly elected mayors in 10 major UK cities present an opportunity to invigorate local democracy and economic development.
localism
Responses to gang culture: The need for localised strategies
Youth crime remains endemic in deprived urban areas. Communities must develop inclusive, youth-led strategies to tackle the gangs, writes a Labour councillor.
Pickles and co are barking up the road to nowhere
Sian Berry explains why transport plans focusing on roads are likely to take more money from local authorities’ purses, and calls for more sustainable plans.
Pickles’s failed attempt to reduce complexity risks a planning free-for-all
Under the guise of reducing complexity in the planning system, the government devolves crucial decisions to under-funded councils in a failed attempt at growth.
Business rates reform: Clegg promises poorer areas will not lose out
Nick Clegg, speaking at the Local Government Association conference, promised poorer areas will not lose out from the government’s business rates reform.
Pickles’s meddle and populism bill
Jessica Studdert, political adviser to the Labour group at the Local Govt Assoc, examines Eric Pickles’s meddling in the very localism he claims to champion.
Eric Pickles’ cuts target Britain’s poorest areas
The Government claims that “We’re all in this together”. But even with Eric Pickles’ ‘transition grant’ into account, the poorest areas will do worse out of this settlement.
Localism or a postcode lottery?
The ‘bonfire of quangos’ may or may not lead to centralisation or deregulation depending on circumstance.
Unlocking the potential of mass localism
The UK’s major political parties have all pointed to the importance of encouraging and supporting more local responses to addressing big social challenges.
Directly elected mayors with increased powers will reinvigorate local governance
A new report says that by giving elected mayors both greater powers and an increased mandate, local democracy and governance can be reinvigorated.