03 July 2008
Blears signals ‘new era’ for devolution
Michael Burton
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Hazel Blears has signalled ‘a new era’ for councils with a wider role devolved down from Whitehall in tackling social and global issues at local level.
The secretary of state for communities and local government is to unveil her views in her speech at the LGA conference today (Thursday), days after confirming the themes for the 35 new local area agreements.
She told The MJ: ‘There are big challenges such as climate change, obesity, and migrancy. We couldn’t have anticipated these a few years ago. This combination of factors takes us into a new era and local government should have a central role in helping deal with them.’
In her interview with The MJ, Ms Blears said ministers now recognised that councils could take on issues previously regarded as national saying: ‘What’s changed is that issues including dealing with obesity, teenage pregnancies, climate change or NEETs wouldn’t have been number one concerns for local authorities before. But we at the centre now feel local government is best placed to deal with these issues.’
She added: ‘Take climate change. It’s talked about as a national issue, but local authorities are well-placed to deal with it locally. It doesn’t respond to normal government levers. It requires a new politics.’
Of the priorities agreed in the new LAAs, tackling NEETS (16 to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training) followed by teenage pregnancies, affordable housing and climate change top the list. The minister confirmed that her engagement White Paper would be published next week, and admitted that there had been concerns at the LGA about possible loss of council powers through ‘devolution on your doorstep.’
She added: ‘Participatory democracy doesn’t threaten representational democracy. It’s an empty argument that is in the past. We’ve reached agreement on that, and the LGA is now on board.’
The secretary of state for communities and local government is to unveil her views in her speech at the LGA conference today (Thursday), days after confirming the themes for the 35 new local area agreements.
She told The MJ: ‘There are big challenges such as climate change, obesity, and migrancy. We couldn’t have anticipated these a few years ago. This combination of factors takes us into a new era and local government should have a central role in helping deal with them.’
In her interview with The MJ, Ms Blears said ministers now recognised that councils could take on issues previously regarded as national saying: ‘What’s changed is that issues including dealing with obesity, teenage pregnancies, climate change or NEETs wouldn’t have been number one concerns for local authorities before. But we at the centre now feel local government is best placed to deal with these issues.’
She added: ‘Take climate change. It’s talked about as a national issue, but local authorities are well-placed to deal with it locally. It doesn’t respond to normal government levers. It requires a new politics.’
Of the priorities agreed in the new LAAs, tackling NEETS (16 to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training) followed by teenage pregnancies, affordable housing and climate change top the list. The minister confirmed that her engagement White Paper would be published next week, and admitted that there had been concerns at the LGA about possible loss of council powers through ‘devolution on your doorstep.’
She added: ‘Participatory democracy doesn’t threaten representational democracy. It’s an empty argument that is in the past. We’ve reached agreement on that, and the LGA is now on board.’
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