Councils click into the future of planning
In town halls across the country, planning officers are racing to update their Local Plans — but this time, the process looks very different.
London Councils eyes apprenticeship levy devolution
09/10/2023 London Councils has named securing devolution of the apprenticeship levy to its boroughs to fund skills and employment activity as a key short-term priority. |
'No progress' on devolution to London
21/06/2023 The capital appears to have ‘taken a step backwards’ on devolution, a former chair of London Councils has said. |
New action plan to empower councils to deliver net zero
16/11/2022 Local Plans should become the driving force behind decarbonisation and clean growth projects, according to a new report. |
UK comes under pressure to adopt rights charter
26/04/2022 Local leaders will continue to be ‘heavily constrained’ until the UK follows through on its promise to guarantee the rights of local government in law, a sector expert has warned. |
South East needs 'unified' approach to create a devolution framework
22/03/2022 Government must rethink the assumption that directing investment away from an ‘overheated’ South East will ‘cool’ the region and ‘heat’ the rest of the country, a report has warned today. |
Gove warned of climate change floods risk
22/11/2021 Local government secretary Michael Gove was today urged to align UK housing policy with climate change. |
Retrofitting risks ‘dangerous divide’
18/10/2021 Councils should have a role to play in avoiding widening regional inequalities when retrofitting housing, according to a new report today. |
Sharpening the commercial edge
17/06/2021 The case for well-managed council commercial activity is one that needs to be defended if we want a mature and sustainable local state, argues Jonathan Werran. |
Councils urged to 'sharpen commercial edge'
15/06/2021 A new report has argued that allowing councils to sharpen their commercial edge will ‘unlock immense latent place potential’ and help ‘galvanise recovery’. |
Devolution must focus on economy, says think-tank
06/05/2021 Devolution needs to focus on rebuilding the economy rather than local government reorganisation, a think-tank has claimed. |
A toolkit for good governance
11/03/2021 Launched this week, a new framework for examining complex local governance challenges focused on behaviours and culture provides a ‘common language’ to talk about risk, says Lord Bob Kerslake. |
New toolkit to help councils champion good governance
09/03/2021 New toolkits to help senior council staff and councillors understand and act on risks to good governance have been published today. |
Ministers urged to 'double down on devolution'
17/11/2020 A new study has called for the creation of 'pop up parishes' and 'people's budgets' to give communities greater control over local services and assets. |
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Better response to pandemic from European councils, says think-tank
16/07/2020 Local government across Europe has been able to react to the coronavirus crisis with greater power and autonomy than in the UK, a report published today has found. |
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Free community groups to take on assets - think-tank
03/06/2020 Powers allowing community groups to take on local assets should be kick-started to build on the volunteer spirit generated by Covid says a report released today. |
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Councils pledge to 'keep it local'
04/03/2020 Eleven councils have pledged to move away from big outsourcing contracts and keep local services in the hands of local community organisations. |
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The price to pay
29/01/2020 If the Johnson Government values the institutions of mayoral governance as agents of levelling up, they will have to creatively fund and resource them, writes Localis chief executive Jonathan Werran. |
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Think tank calls for councils to have powers over immigration post-Brexit
06/09/2019 Councils should be given powers after Brexit to issue visas to foreign workers based on their assessment of local need, according to think tank Localis. |
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Healing the divisions through local economic power
16/05/2019 The nation is becoming increasingly divided, but a think tank report on Britain post-Brexit provides a positive vision for the future, says Mark Whitehead. |
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Think tank calls for creation of a British Investment Bank
15/05/2019 An investment bank should be set up to 'kick start a productivity revolution' after Brexit, according to a local government think tank. |
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Think tank calls for ‘major rethink’ of electric vehicles roll out
10/01/2019 The roll out of infrastructure for electric vehicles risks exacerbating the divide between rich and poor, creating ‘a tale of two cities’ in urban centres, a think tank has warned. |
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Labour hits out at housing cash shift
12/11/2018 Labour has called for all areas to receive greater Government backing after Whitehall shifted the focus of its housing cash. |
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Reform outsourcing to avoid £30bn bill, think-tank warns
30/10/2018 Bringing outsourced services in-house would cost local government billions, a think-tank has calculated. |
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Public 'willing' to pay more tax for certain services
25/06/2018 Most people would be prepared to pay more in council tax or one-off voluntary levies to fund particular local services, a new poll has revealed today. |
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Industrial Strategy snubs councils
27/11/2017 Business secretary Greg Clark has snubbed councils and empowered local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) in the Government’s long-awaited Industrial Strategy. |
