David Cameron has heralded the beginning of the, ‘decisive end of the old-fashioned, top-down, take-what-you’re given model of public services.’ The Open Public Services White Paper elaborates further and identifies the need for increased diversity of provision, the importance of innovation and quality in public services, and the role for strong local authorities.
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Dan Ebanks from House has, with Simon Parker and Nigel Keohane, co-authored the latest NLGN report, ‘Realising Community Wealth – Local Government and the Big Society’.
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David Cameron has heralded the Open Services White Paper as the beginning of the ‘decisive end of the old-fashioned, top-down, take-what-you’re given model of public services.’
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Infrastructure matters. The CBI reported to a Treasury Select Committee that 70% of business leaders think the UK’s infrastructure is poor and 85% suggest it had an impact on their investment decisions, making it crucial for any local economy. Numerous studies also suggest infrastructure quality has a profound effect on our personal wellbeing and satisfaction with services (for example the BMA study on the impact of the environment on patient recovery). And that’s not to mention the impact infrastructure can have on the future of the planet through reduced waste and resource demand management.
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Over the past few weeks House has looked at:
• How the Local Authority must ensure its operations are outward looking and place-based
• How the Local Authority must signal its intentions to its local economic partners
• The importance of strategic land use and asset management, and a corporate strategic and investment framework that is relevant at subregional, borough and local levels.
• The importance of solid delivery capabilities – getting the strategy right is nugatory if it cannot be delivered effectively and intelligently.
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Working directly to Croydon’s Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Planning, Regeneration and Conservation, House was asked to draft a 20 year Capital Strategy, and put in place a framework for the inception and delivery of a rolling 5 year Capital Programme.
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The Local Authority needs to consider how its operating model can support the borough’s growth aspirations. It is essential there is a vision for the borough, and that it has ‘spatial expression’. Ideally, the Sustainable Communities Strategy and the LDF Core Strategy would have been developed in concert, and are mutually dependent.
Or, why not combine the two into a single framework for your ‘place’?
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The Local Authority can create and manage economic growth – for the borough and its neighbourhoods. This is the latest instalment of House’s thinking on the role of local authorities after the financial crisis and government spending settlements. Before it can take advantage of its unique position the Local Authority must be clear itself and with other stakeholders what its role is with respect to development, growth and place quality.
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‘Place’ is a driver of strategy and implementation – it is not just context. Place is often simply seen as the independent backdrop, or ‘container’, for the implementation and delivery of public policies and services.
The quality and scope of services a typical local authority is able to deliver are determined in too large a part by its own functional constraints. All service focused organisations should start with what is valued by the citizen or customer and design its operations accordingly.