‘Councils vital to successful devolved governance’ says new NLGN report

March 25, 2004

As the debate about decentralisation and devolution continues, a new report published by independent think-tank, the New Local Government Network (NLGN) finds that councils have a vital role in enabling local communities to find their voice.



Vitality through locality – lessons from Suffolk and Lewisham explores how two different councils are attempting to reflect the needs and demands of distinct communities through their governance and operation. In doing so, the report reveals different approaches to ‘Locality Working’ – with Lewisham adopting a ‘philosophical approach’ to how it operates and Suffolk building more structural links between its corporate centre and the Council’s many localities.



Anna Randle, NLGN Head of Organisation and one of the authors of the report, said today:



    “Some of the better councils are now exercising their role through helping smaller communities have their say about services and governance. They are ‘letting go’ and allowing greater innovation and diversity of services at the community level. This is about a new community leadership role for local government, and it is wrong to think of councils always wanting to run everything in the area.”

Meanwhile, NLGN Director Dan Corry added a warning to those in and around government whose embrace of the neighbourhood agenda appears to reflect the intention to marginalise local government:



    “Neighbourhood governance offers lots of possibilities. But this report shows that doing decentralisation with local government rather than against it is the best way forward. Agendas that seek to completely by-pass the Town Hall are misguided”.

The report – the third in the NLGN/IDeA ‘Knowledge Exchange’ series – includes a foreword by Lucy de Groot, Executive Director of the IDeA, who observes:



    “What level of diversity of approach are councils comfortable with? How can learning from local initiatives be mainstreamed? To what extent should councils be reactive and proactive? There is no hard and fast rule about making this work. […] As new powers are awarded to local government and new forms of neighbourhood governance are introduced, these questions will become ever more important.”

All media enquiries, including press copies of the report, to Ian Parker at NLGN on 020 7357 0116



Notes for Editors:

The New Local Government Network (NLGN) is an independent think-tank, seeking to transform public services, revitalise local political leadership and empower local communities. www.nlgn.org.uk



Vitality through locality – lessons from Suffolk and Lewisham by Anna Randle and Natalie Arend with Kamal Panchal is available from NLGN, priced £20 (plus £1.25 P&P) at network@nlgn.org.uk


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