ConservativeHome's Local Government Blog

Conservatives nationally look for local inspiration on policy

On February 3rd a seminar was held with Francis Maude, the Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Nick Hurd, the Shadow Minster for Charities, Social Enterprise and Volunteering and the CCHQ Implementation Team. It was part of the prepartion for Government and on this occasion looked at what lessons their could be from Conservative Councils for the next Conservative Government.

Cllr David Shakespeare, leader of the Conservative Group in the LGA, also thought the presentations offered opportunities for us to learn from each other and so sent copies to Conservative Group leaders. He reports:

"Last week I was very pleased to be able to take part in an event organised jointly by Francis Maude MP, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and by the Central Office Implementation Team.

"There were three outstanding presentations by Conservative Authority leaders that I thought you would be interested in looking at.The first was by Stephen Greenhalgh, Leader of Hammersmith and Fulham, who described how the Borough succeeded in dramatically reducing Council Tax at the same time as raising the quality of services and public satisfaction.  Stephen called it “Progressive Conservatism”, but I would describe it as energetically delivering all of those barnstormingly Conservative principles that we all believe in and wish we could do more of.

"Lord Hanningfield’s presentation was the continuing story of how Essex County Council is saving local Post Offices from closure and how some of them are now also becoming points where the public can also make payments to Local Government.

"The third presentation was from Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council,  on how Kent has driven up educational standards and skills. One fact that particularly intrigued me was that the setting up of Skills Centres actually sited on industrial estates to deliver the very local skills needed there.  All Paul needs to do now is to share with us where the funding came from!"

The full presentations are not avalable online but I will try and get PDFs put up here later.

David Beckham Park... the J K Rowling Library... the Bruce Forsyth School...

This morning's Telegraph reports that local government minister John Healey MP is to encourage councils to give local people a say in the naming of public places:

"I think it's great for local democracy and local pride if people can name their public spaces after the people who are important to them. They may choose national icons. But they may also choose their community's unsung heroes; those who serve others and win the respect and admiration of the people around them."

As The Telegraph suggests, the people of Manchester could choose the David Beckham Park while Edinburgh could name their library after J K Rowling.

Mr Healey will be reacting to a report from the New Local Government Network, a think tank overseen by former Labour minister Chris Leslie.  Local war heroes or community workers could also be recognised.

The think tank urges Boris Johnson to name a London street after every double medal winner from the 2012 Games.

Tim Montgomerie

It can be done (lower taxes, less debt and better services)

Tim Montgomerie writes:

Tory leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council, Stephen Greenhalgh has written for today's Sunday Telegraph about best practice in local government.  It is a distillation of a longer analysis he has written for the Centre for Policy Studies; The New Good Council Guide.

Here are Cllr Greenhalgh's key conclusions:

"Average council taxes in H&F are now £350 lower than they would have been had the council maintained the previous rate of increase under Labour. Despite significant cost pressures on local government, our relentless pursuit of value for money has meant that we have cut council spending by £7 million (or 4 per cent) in cash terms, cut the workforce by 18 per cent (or 950 full-time equivalent employees) and cut the council's debt by £20 million.

At the same time, services have improved significantly. High-profile, round-the-clock beat policing has been introduced and paid for by the council - there were 2,000 fewer recorded crimes this year. Street-cleaning services and council estates are being improved."

His article discusses cuts in communication budgets, sacking of political advisers, compulsory tendering of inhouse council services and a particular commitment to provide better services for low income families.

Earlier this week Cllr Nigel Fletcher discussed life as an opposition.  Cllr Greenhalgh noted its importance for what his administration is now doing:

"My political career is based on a solid foundation of failure: I was in opposition for more than 10 years, and all my time was spent talking to local people and getting to know the issues that mattered to them. Opposition gave us the time and space to develop our policies and to communicate them."

Should Conservative councils cut council tax for all or give rebates to some?

Both the Daily Mail and the East Anglian Daily Times report on Tory-controlled Essex County Council's plan to give £200 council tax rebates to some low income council taxpayers.

Lord Hanningfield, leader of Essex CC, hopes to work with the Department of Work & Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs to identify those most deserving of help.  Poorer families, pensioners and servicemen's families are apparently most in his mind:

“A lot of people are suffering, particularly old people, through increases in energy and food costs and this wouldn't just be for people over 65. Our job as a county council is to help these people. Essex (County Council) is for Essex people and they are suffering and are likely to suffer even more in the winter.”

The move has been welcomed by Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers' Alliance.  Mr Wallace told the EADT that "economic conditions are increasingly difficult and taxes are placing an intolerable burden on household budgets.”  Some will wonder, however, about the administrative complexity of Essex's proposal and whether rather than targeting relief on some families it would be more sensible to deliver across-the-board cuts in council tax.  The Guardian contrasts the Essex approach with Hammersmith & Fulham's delivery of a 3% cut in council tax over two successive years.

This is not the first time that Essex Tories have been willing to embrace an innovative approach to a topical problem.  Earlier this year the Council put aside £1.5m to save endangered post offices.  The Council also runs an online vote on spending priorities.  Participants in the vote can win £50 a week.

Ed Vaizey: Councils could tighten classification of Batman movie

In a letter to yesterday's Times Iain Duncan Smith worried that the classification for Batman, The Dark Knight was too permissive:

"I was astonished that the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) could have seen fit to allow anyone under the age of 15 to watch the film. Unlike past Batman films where the villains were somewhat surreal and comical figures, Heath Ledger’s Joker is a brilliantly acted but very credible psychopathic killer, who extols the use of knives to kill and disfigure his victims, during a reign of urban terrorism, laced with torture. It is a relentlessly violent film, filled with dark themes, and as I left I wondered what the board could possibly have been thinking."

Like ConservativeHome's Editor, IDS enjoyed the film. But his view that the film is too violent for 12-year-olds is shared by Keith Vaz MP, Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Cttee, and the Daily Mail.  This is the Mail's verdict today:

"At the start of the film, one character is terrorised, when a grenade is put into his mouth. Later, a man's eye is viciously jabbed out with a pencil. In another scene, the Joker boasts that he enjoys killing with a knife, because it takes his victims longer to die. This is dark, dark material indeed. Yet this is the film the British Board of Film Classification has given a 12A rating, which means it is considered quite suitable even for young children, if they are accompanied by an adult. Children over 12, of course, can see it on their own."

ConservativeHome has just been speaking to Shadow Culture Minister Ed Vaizey and he reminds us that local authorities have the power to tighten classifications if they so wish:

"I think the BBFC do very good and important work but I was surprised having seen and enjoyed The Dark Knight that it was a 12a and not a 15.  The film contains violent and disturbing scenes, even though it's a brilliant movie.  We should remember that BBFC classifications are only advisory and local authorities are ultimately responsible for classifications.  It would be interesting to see if any local authorities wish to use their powers for this and future films."

Stephen Greenhalgh: Help me write a bold Conservative blueprint for local government

Stephen Greenhalgh is Conservative leader of Hammersmith and Fulham and a key member of the team that Boris Johnson has appointed to audit City Hall.  He won ConservativeHome.com's 2007/08 'Local Hero Award'.  In this article Stephen introduces the aims of the new Conservative Council Innovation Unit and its aim to write 'the bible' of best practice for Conservatives in local government.

This May we have witnessed the death of both New Labour and old Labour in power. Last week Eric Pickles masterminded Labour's first by-election defeat since the 1978 by-election in Ilford North, a Labour seat, when a young Tessa Jowell lost to Vivian Bendall who is currently my Association Chairman. A couple of weeks ago my Labour predecessor as Council Leader described the loss of Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London "as the worst blow to Labour since the 1992 general election defeat".

However, many of our critics point to a lack of vision or programme for government. As we already dominate local government, our challenge is to define and articulate our Conservative vision. It is an opportunity for our party to demonstrate our priorities and goals for the communities we seek to represent.

We need to find the right language, establish Conservative values and develop a new Conservative lexicon to replace the New Labour mantras that dominate public sector thinking today.  Frankly New Labour's sole political legacy has been to rewrite the language of local government. For instance this month's pamphlet published by the SOLACE Foundation which is the professional network for local authority chief executives and senior managers is entitled "How equality shapes place: diversity and localism". Their rhetoric has been about "equality and diversity", "fairness" and "social justice" and the reality has been greater levels of inequality and a decrease in social mobility.

Other Tory councils consider following Essex's lead and may save threatened post offices

A leader in The Daily Telegraph praises Essex County Council's plan to put aside £1.5m of council taxpayers' money to save fifteen endangered post offices:

"To those who say council tax revenues should not be used to prop up ailing enterprises, we would argue it is better that they be invested in this way than squandered on some of the inessentials that beguile too many local authorities, such as PR flummery or twinning junkets.  The value of a post office to a community cannot be calculated on a dry profit-and-loss ledger; many are an invaluable part of the local social infrastructure. How heartening that a growing number of councils recognise this as a cause worth fighting for."

Essex plans to help the post offices become self-sustaining enterprises and does not envisage long-term subsidy.

The Telegraph reports that "dozens" of other local councils are considering following Essex's lead.

Henry Smith, for example, of West Sussex Council and our candidate in the super-marginal seat of Crawley is considering options:

"We are looking at ways in which we might be able to help protect some of the post offices. What Essex has done is an option we are exploring, but it will be dependent on whether the Post Office will let us look at the books to see if it is viable."

The Telegraph also mentions Leicestershire and Suffolk.

Last week, also in The Telegraph, David Cameron underlined his commitment to post offices:

"Post Offices provide much needed services for millions of vulnerable people in this country, particularly the elderly, and Labour has been closing almost 10 a week since 1997. Post Offices often provide the only community service in rural areas and the strength of public protest against closures is being ignored by this Government."

2.30pm: Tim Aker at the TPA doesn't approve of local councils doing new things like this.

Gloucestershire Conservatives use council tax to put 63 more police officers on the county's streets

Congratulations to Cllr Julie Girling who sent ConservativeHome this YouTube video of a recent Politics Show programme report dedicated to Gloucestershire Tories' decision to spend £2.2m putting 63 extra police officers into areas where high visibility policing could reassure and protect the public: