Labour believes in the principle of localism, we championed devolution in government and we want to see councils that are flexible, innovative and modern. Indeed, some of the coalition’s proposals are likely to build on the reforms Labour introduced over the last few years.

It was Labour who introduced Total Place, giving local areas additional freedom to achieve better services and more savings, cutting bureaucracy and management. We also cut back on ringfenced budgets, inspections, central targets and indicators and developed ideas to empower residents to hold local government to account and deliver better, more personalised services. Labour argued for the extension of powers available to our city-regions and backed powers that would give residents the opportunity to decide whether to hold trigger referendums for directly electing mayors.

So there is no substance to the claim that localism is a revolutionary new idea dreamt up by Eric Pickles. We were there long before – and when we talk about giving real power to communities, we mean it.

From what we’ve seen so far, the coalition’s approach to localism often bypasses local government, rather than embracing it. Their policies on schools, elected police commissioners and their insistence on an unnecessary NHS reorganisation suggest they see local government as an obstacle to devolving power, rather than as a vehicle for decentralisation. And at the same time as preaching localism, Eric Pickles seems unable to stop himself from issuing headline-chasing diktats on everything from bin collections and council newspapers to what kind of lights councils should be putting up for Christmas. That suggests he’s happy to champion localism as long as councils do what he tells them.

There is also a worry that the coalition is using localism as a smokescreen for the frontloaded cuts they are making to council funding. For all their talk of localism, the coalition have dumped the coalition’s cuts on local councils so that town halls are losing on average 27 per cent of their funding over the next four years, compared to 11 per cent on average for Whitehall departments.

According to the National Survey of Third Sector Organisations, almost one-third of third sector organisations rely on local authority funding. So talk of the ‘big society’, and allowing local voluntary groups to flourish is all well and good, but when many groups are reliant on local authority funding, the dramatic spending cuts the government has imposed on town halls will seriously curtail the capacity of the charitable and not-for-profit sector. Far from taking on more, as the government imagines, they may actually be able to do rather less; ending the partnerships between local authorities and community groups that have proved so fruitful.

There is a huge opportunity for local government to show that working with its partners, it can fundamentally transform its role. The partnerships between local government and other organisations are at the heart of Labour’s vision for a decentralised, localised society where power rests in the hands of the many, and not the few. The case for greater decentralisation – for localism – is strongest when it is linked to the potential for local improvement that could not be achieved as well, or indeed at all, by central direction, and where it increases local accountability.

Those working on the ground, close to where the problems are happening, know where the solutions can be found. They understand the fears and concerns of a community, its hopes and aspirations. Beyond a reasonably set national minimum standard, local authorities should have the flexibility to reflect the priorities of the communities they serve, and to work with their partners to design and deliver services tailored to their own local needs.

Local people should also be equipped with the information to know how well their services are performing, and the power to demand change when things aren’t up to scratch. They should feel they have control over public services and things that happen where they live because there are many challenges that cannot be met by central government alone. The job of central government is to provide the investment, support and infrastructure to encourage the vital partnerships between local authorities, the public and private sector, voluntary organisations and the communities they serve, to flourish. 

Photo: Dom Stocqueler