Minister Bob Neill has said that the Government is looking to local leaders to help deliver its decentralisation agenda in a new collection of essays by the New Local Government Network (NLGN).
The local government minister wrote the foreword to the new publication, which is entitled The Next Question: The future of local leadership, and also features contributions from Birmingham City Council's leader, Cllr Mike Whitby, and Northumberland CC leader, Cllr Jeff Reid.
Bob Neill:‘'We believe leadership is the single most significant driver of change and improvement in local authorities ‘.'We believe leadership is the single most significant driver of change and improvement in local authorities and the Government will be looking to local leaders to help deliver our decentralisation agenda,' wrote Mr Neill.
'Leaders will need to be the face of their authorities, both regionally and nationally and be able to manage politics, both internally and externally.'
Cllr Whitby's essay looks at the leader's role in driving economic growth and Cllr Reid’s examines the future of central-local relations.
'The Government is right to acknowledge the crucial role played by council leaders in delivering on the localism agenda,' said the NLGN's head of external affairs, Liam Scott-Smith .
'With local government going through a period of unprecedented change, we need to open a discussion about what the future role of the council leader, and by extension all local councillors, will look like.'
