Strong and prosperous communities

The Local Government White Paper – ‘Strong and Prosperous Communities’.

This paper was published by Government in October 2006 and is due to be followed by an Act of Parliament in 2007. It sets out the Government’s vision of strong and relevant local authorities at the centre of community leadership. It seeks to reduce top-down control and give more influence to local people and local communities over decisions that affect them. It also seeks to establish clear and accountable leadership in the public sector with an enhanced role for back bench councillors.

Where does CSS stand?

There is much to commend in the aims of the White Paper:

• Improved engagement between local Government, citizens and partners
• Enhancing the role of local Government at the centre of community leadership
• Fostering a sense of community and civic pride; and
• A reduction in the number of centrally imposed targets and performance indicators.

It is important that Central Government engages in meaningful dialogue with local Government so that the changes set out in the paper can be enacted in a practical manner.

A careful reading of the paper will pick up a thread of ‘efficiency’ of local services which runs through the document. This directly challenges local Government to reduce the net cost of services to the taxpayer through collaboration between public bodies, sharing various functions and delivering services through a single point of contact.

In two tier areas (where there is presently a District and County Council) Government has invited proposals to form either a new single tier (Unitary) Council or to radically improve the working between the County and their Districts (Improved Two Tier).