Well, tis no real surprise that the #Tories response to the financial crisis in #localgovernment is to 'encourage' Councils to sell public assets to balance the books....
not only is this a short-term, once-only solution to an ongoing budgetary crisis, it also from the Tories point of view (again) reduces the base of operations for local government.
Given the #Tories are not going to stop #localgovernment collapsing into financial chaos, the Q. is what (if anything) do they expect to take its place?
Its unclear (to me at least) whether they think a mosaic of #freeports & enterprise zones can replace local governance, or whether they are just wrecking because they can, or whether its merely more centralising zeal, gathering power & resources in #London?
As the #localgovernment crisis continues to get worse, here are four reforms that might help reverse the problems & restore some semblance of local (accountable) #democracy:
reform the needs assessment system to reflect actual local needs;
Link 1. to equitable funding - allocated for need (and redistributed if required);
A standing commission to represent local government interests & negotiate with central Govt.
The ripples of #JeremyHunt's scorched earth #AutumnStatement have reached #localgovernment pretty quickly... this is starting to look like the wilful hobbling of the country in the hope that the ensuing disaster(s) around the public sector will so damage the next Govt. that that the #Tories can claim to be our saviours after a one term Labour Govt. fails (for whatever reason) to be a salvation.
It immoral #politics of the wreckers! They're just narcissistic nihilists!
If you don't subscribe to the slow journalism magazine Delayed Gratification, here's a nice example of their approach to long-form journalism.
From last year's articles, here's (a still very relevant) deep dive into the problems at Woking & Birmingham Councils... if you have the time & are concerned about the future of local government, then I'd recommend setting aside 20mns for this
perhaps think about subscribing; its a great publication
David Mellen, the Labour leader of Nottingham city council, said elected members did not have the final say over “devastating” funding gap that led to them approving more than 500 redundancies, council tax rises and millions of pounds of cuts last week. #Nottingham#Austerity#Section114#LocalGovernment#UKPolitics#Democracy
Here is a map of Local Authority debt per person, produced using publicly available data by Ciara Sowerby (and posted at LinkedIn) which offers an interesting picture of how the debt is distributed.
This suggests for #localgovernment, on debt at least, there are highly variable situations.
Of course, this is likely to be influenced by the needs for service provision & the wealth (tax base) of the local population, but does offers some food for thought on the crisis in local government.
We know there is a crisis in #localgovernment funding, we can see it across a range of services, but perhaps the most heartbreaking is the crisis in Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) support... that the unavailability of funding is nothing to do with over-stated need is reflected in the fact that when #SEND claims end up in court, around 96% are found to be legitimate, despite Councils often fighting the claim.
The #Tories wrecking of local Govt. harms the weak & vulnerable!
There is an epidemic of #financial miss-governance & outright criminality across local councils... but the Q. is what has caused this?
Some might argue that #localgovernment has always been corrupt... while others might suggest the massive pressures put on local councils have resulted in them trying (even illegal) means to stay afloat.
And the collapse in local media means much of this is happening out of sight.
Local #democracy is in crisis... but what's the answer?
San Francisco deserves the best possible redistricting process!
“We really see this as an important step forward for building a stronger, more inclusive democracy in San Francisco. One that all residents can trust and have faith in.” Sietse Goffard, Asian Law Caucus
Did you miss the deadline to email the San Francisco Elections Commission? You can still ask them to vote to support recommendations for better redistricting in our city!
I think it's time I migrated to a smaller instance. Can anyone offer suggestions?
I'm not a single-interest user so I don't want a single-interest instance, but some of my multiple interests include #ruby, #softwareEngineering in general, #athletics (in the European sense) and #running, #localGovernment and #transit, #greaterBoston, and parenting #neurodiverse children (which is a fraught subject, I know, so to be clear my aspirations there are #radicalAcceptance ).
Look like one group is doing well out of the cost of living (enforced poverty) crisis & the financial plight of local councils (now often taking a zero tolerance approach to outstanding payments)...
Yup, the Bailiffs are have a good time (and of course, the bosses are paying themselves accordingly.
Yet one more symptom of a country in which callousness has been normalised & poverty is increasingly violently punished.