Local democracy

Sir Peter Kemp, former Whitehall mandarin, submits our wishlist for local democracy to a reality check

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 August 2000 15.20 BST

Local government certainly needs to be made more democratic if only to balance the centralising tendency of Whitehall and the power of Whitehall departments, particularly the Treasury. The ideas proposed in the manifesto would all work towards this end.

Particularly important is giving to local authorities the power to raise more of their own money. This would be hotly contested by the Treasury, but a substantial "own income", not subject to central capping, is essential if local electors and local councils are to give real meaning to local democracy.

The manifesto needs to say more about two issues. First, the question of the interface between central and local government, which arise particularly in education, with the role of LEAs being called into question, and in health, where the jagged edge between the National Health Service and local authority social services has been an unresolved problem for very many years.

The manifesto should set out a predisposition for localisation and an outline of how this would work.

Second is the question of the efficiency and the delivery of services. More local democracy should be sought not just for its own sake, but with a view to serving local people better by way of improved value for money, service to the citizen and accountability.

The government's "best value" reforms had a slow and rather uncertain start, but local authorities must build on them, involving the private sector where that is worthwhile. Better paid councillors should be sought. League tables should be made more user-friendly. The audit commission and other inspectorates need to give added value and not get in the way.

The manifesto should promise a thorough thinking through of the Government's ideas on regionalisation, and what a regional tier would do. Over-government is to be avoided.

On housing, the manifesto should promise to proceed with proposals in the recent green paper "Quality and Choice". The relative responsibilities of local government and the private sector need clear definition. The idea of a rebranding of "council housing" which uses private money and expertise to help clear up the backlog of repairs, while leaving councils with effective tools to discharge their housing responsibilities, is attractive.