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The Big Question on…local government

By ucyow3c, on 28 April 2015

Should localism be sped up or slowed down?

Localism has been a key theme of the Administration for the past five years. From day one, Secretary of State Eric Pickles, of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) established momentum to push back responsibilities from central government to localities. The Localism Bill (2011) replaced the previous central control on local authorities, with increased local responsibility. While presented as having the virtues of new freedoms and flexibilities, localism also brought with it an increase in local authority workload and costs in a climate of diminishing support. The removal of central controls on planning, land use and housing also introduced the risks of diverging policy and practice across regions and authorities. This raised the spectre of postcode lotteries and the expensive re-invention of wheels, as best practice was no longer promulgated from the centre.

A further, linked intervention by central government (BIS and DCLG), was an invitation by the Coalition for regions to come together to form Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). In very broad terms, these were intended to fill the ecological niche previously provided by the Regional Development agencies (RDAs), which were abolished in 2012.. No template for LEP structure was offered by government, and there is a wide gap between the most and least effective. Some areas of the UK are not supported by LEPs at all.

To its credit, the Localism Bill provided the squeeze needed to encourage more efficient working, particularly collaboration between neighbouring authorities to share the costs of street cleaning, rubbish collection and so on. LEPs have also had their successes, including as catalysts promoting collaboration between local authorities, and in developing business growth.

Looking ahead beyond the election, it is difficult to see a reversal of the move to localism. Costs have been cut, and no administration wants to put fat back on to a lean torso. Whitehall departments have shed perhaps 40% of their civil service workforce since 2009, and those remaining are mainly generalists. There simply would not be the capacity to re-centralise. Some of the ability to provide specialist advice within government has also been lost.

So are there opportunities and threats for the recently empowered regions? I think so – and new openings for universities to work with local authorities and with central government departments. Academics and researchers can offer a rich span of expertise, covering current and emerging knowledge gaps with the potential to satisfy public sector needs previously met by specialist analytical staff. Indeed, unless knowledge gaps are addressed, a key threat to localism will be degeneration to non-optimal solutions driven by the pragmatism of cost rather than best practice. There is a win for academics too; with the Research Evaluation Framework (REF) scoring impact at a 20% weighting, directing research agendas towards government needs looks like a win-win strategy.

While universities adjust to these new opportunities, they might also look at the ways better support can be provided to small business in the regions. The needs for expertise may be of a similar scale to those of local authorities. Perhaps university networks could better engage with LEPs to serve both business and local authorities.

Jeremy Watson, UCL Faculty of Engineering Science


UCL’s Big Questions sought contributions from academics around UCL to address the ‘big question’ facing the next UK government, and how research can provide an evidence base. It was devised by Clio Heslop (UCL Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy) and Olivia Stevenson (UCL Public Policy), with the support of the Communications and Marketing team.

Have your say on the big questions by tweeting using #UCLGE2015, by leaving a blog comment, or by contacting the organisers.

Please join us on 27 May for the UCL’s Big Question Time event.

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