council newspapers Articles

Next week the coalition will set out its plans for local government reform in the localism and decentralisation bill. Listening to the local government secretary, Eric Pickles, you’d think the last six months have witnessed the dawn of a brave new era of localism. Councils are miraculously freed from their shackles, voluntary organisations are given the chance to run local services and residents are listened to for the first time.

But it’s a myth.