Councillors in their communities: should I be bothered?

The communities and local government committee is conducting an inquiry into the role of councillors in their communities but you could be forgiven for not having noticed. The closing date for submissions is coming up apace (23 May) and one wonders how many people outside the rather specialised bubble of local government commentators, representative organisations, academics and think tanks will make the effort to respond.

Indeed, how many economic development practitioners and regeneration experts will see this inquiry as significant to their interests?

I’d hazard a wild guess that the answer is ‘not many’.

I’d also suggest that this is understandable but regrettable.

If there really is to be economic development with a social face, as many people on this blog have been suggesting, then the role of councillors in achieving it should be crucial.

If that is to happen in practice then clearly a good deal depends on how much room for manoeuvre is left by central government given some of the structures and approaches that are being put in place even with initiatives such as city deals (although wither those given the demise of the mayoral model in most of our major cities). But it also depends on the types of experience and skills that councillors can bring to the table and their preparedness to move into space which might be contested but that can still be successfully occupied, particularly at the local level.

One only has to think for a second about the kinds of roles that councillors play in regulation, in planning, in local purchasing, in decisions about the provision of services and in establishing and facilitating various kinds of engagement with residents to see how much they can do regardless of the wider constraints.

Critically though, austerity and massive reductions in public spending have placed the balance between the roles of professionals, politicians and residents and users in designing and delivering services under unprecedented scrutiny and strain.

The importance of effective political leadership across all of those who make up the council is crucial in shaping and shielding their places in this climate and in arriving with professionals and residents at the hard end of some potentially very unpalatable choices.

The Open Public Services white paper suggested that ‘people know better than politicians’. They may about things that affect only themselves but they certainly don’t about everything and without people who are prepared to act beyond their own specific interests and to take responsibility for making decisions which affect the wider community we are all the losers.

So economic development and regeneration specialists should be knocking on the CLG committee’s door and giving them plenty to think about in terms of how local politicians can best be equipped to make the places for which they have been elected better.