ConservativeHome's Local Government Blog

Sir Simon Milton leaves LGA to become Boris' Deputy Mayor

From MayorWatch:

"Sir Simon Milton is to stand down as a Westminster Councillor and as Chairman of the Local Government Association to enable him to advise Mayor of London Boris Johnson on planning matters, City Hall confirmed this evening.

Milton was originally announced as taking a role in Johnson's administration on 6th May however the appointment ran into problems as Milton's status as a local Councillor meant he wasn't allowed to take up a salaried role within the Greater London Authority.

Milton's role was then downgraded to that of informal advisor with planning decisions delegated to Ian Clement although this was originally denied by the Mayor.

Today's announcement of his resignation from Westminster Council removes this hurdle and frees Milton to join Johnson's team with the honourary title of 'deputy mayor for policy and planning'. The appointment is one of ten permitted to the Mayor under the 1999 GLA act."

Tory local government leaders disagree on new LGA ad campaign

The BBC is reporting that the Local Government Association is embarking on a major advertising campaign to promote the work of local authorities.  The campaign is defended by the Chairman of the LGA, Sir Simon Milton:

"Most people just think that the council collects the bins and they haven't the faintest clue of the vast range of services that town halls provide.  From archaeology to zoology, from cradle to grave, councils provide over 800 services to improve people's lives and help them get safe and sound through the day."

But Sir Simon - former leader of Westminster Council and now a key adviser to Boris Johnson - is not backed up by Eric Pickles MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Local Government:

“This is a damning portrait of Gordon Brown's Britain. Binge-drinking is spiralling out of control and our streets are littered with mountains of rubbish. Council tax has doubled, yet frontline services have been brutally cut back.  People will be offended that not only is taxpayers' cash being wasted on this propaganda but also that such disgusting images are being used.”

We can't find how much these ads will cost.  A selection are posted below:

 

Councils are using surveillance powers to stop misuse of disabled parking badges and against littering

The Conservative leader of the Local Government Association, Sir Simon Milton, has warned councils against over zealous use of surveillance powers that they were given to fight terrorism and criminal offences.

Sir Simon fears that councils may be using these powers too freely and will undermine public confidence in councils having them at all.

Reports in this morning's media note how a family in Dorset was watched for three weeks in order to establish whether or not they were actually in the correct school catchment area.  It was found that they were.  The Telegraph reports that local authorities are launching more than 1,000 covert surveillance operations every month.  The newspaper highlights that Newcastle has used its powers 24 times to investigate parking fines and by Conservatives in Kensington and Chelsea to investigate the misuse of disabled parking badges.

Sir Simon appeared to imply that the surveillance powers were appropriate in dealing with fly tippers, rogue traders and those defrauding the council tax or housing benefit system.  Action against littering was not, he has written, a "necessary and proportionate" use of local authority's surveillance powers.

Dominic Grieve, the new Shadow Home Secretary, welcomed Sir Simon's intervention:

"The public will be alarmed that such strong powers introduced under the guise of counterterrorism are being used by councils. They must be as tightly controlled as if they were being used by the police or security services."

Sir Simon said that the media also had a responsibility to use language more carefully. Talk of snoopers patrolling council parks to check that people were allowing their dogs to foul green spaces would, he implied on this morning's Today programme, produce a different response to news that a park-keeper was empowered to stop fouling of places where children play.