Reacting to the Deputy Prime Minister’s LGA Conference speech, Tom Symons, Senior Researcher of Localism think tank the New Local Government Network (NLGN), said: “Allowing councils to retain their business rates will certainly give them more independence and a financial shot in the arm, but there will inevitably be winners and losers, with some equalization [...]

A new report from localism think tank the New Local Government Network (NLGN) will this week show which areas of the country are most ready to benefit and most at risk from the Government’s Big Society agenda. The report will show that: There is no strong link between a community’s wealth and its ‘Big Society’ [...]

A new report from localism think tank the New Local Government Network (NLGN) will this week show which areas of the country are most ready to benefit and most at risk from the Government’s Big Society agenda. The report will show that: · There is no strong link between a community’s wealth and its ‘Big [...]

Following the publication of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee’s ‘Report into Localism’ today, Simon Parker, Director of Localism think tank the New Local Government Network (NLGN), said: “This new report endorses NLGN’s call for a local government ‘right to challenge’ to provide central services, and we call on Government to enshrine this in [...]

A high-level Commission will be launched this week to help deliver a workable and sustainable devolution of power to communities. The Localism Bill is the latest in a series of new policies that have transformed the operating environment for councils and their partners over the past year. As spending cuts bite, NLGN’s Commission on Next [...]

In response to the Prime Minister’s speech on the Big Society today, Simon Parker, Director of localism think tank the New Local Government Network (NLGN) said, “The government constantly tells us it does not want top-down decision-making by Whitehall, but in repeatedly re-launching this agenda with newer, catchier schemes, ministers are in danger of missing [...]

In a new research paper, NLGN warns that the decision to increase the cost to councils of borrowing from government could threaten local authorities’ ability to boost local economic growth. Localism think tank The New Local Government Network (NLGN) also suggests that much-needed investment in community development and regeneration could suffer unless councils are able [...]

“Huge own goal” if Localism Bill does not give councils significant new powers, warns think tank In advance of the Localism Bill debates in parliament this week, Simon Parker, Director of Localism think tank the New Local Government Network (NLGN), said: “By taking away barriers to local government autonomy such as cumbersome inspection regimes, ministers [...]