Public services can be delivered faster, better and more efficiently locally.
I am truly honoured, humbled and excited to become Chair of your LGA.
As custodian of this national cross-party role, I will work tirelessly to champion local authorities of all shapes, sizes and colours.
It is my mission to represent our amazing, hard-working, and absolutely vital sector, and the ‘can do’ attitude of all who work in it.
We work together united in our passion and belief that every local area should be a great place to live, work and raise a family.
Creating the conditions – and sparking the innovation and ambition for us to get the very best deal for councils and our communities – will be my central mission as LGA Chair.
I want to focus on the challenges we face – and the solutions we have – through the lens of three Ps.
Not parking permits, pest control or potholes. But what more we can do for our people, places and planet.
Everything we do is ultimately about the people we serve. As leaders of place, we know our areas inside out – better than someone at a Whitehall desk ever could.
There are big challenges ahead for us all – in housing, health, looked-after children, asylum and resettlement, and climate change.
But in the LGA and in our councils we have ideas, and solutions.
Whether the next General Election is 18 months or 18 weeks away, this period is a moment of opportunity for local government.
We want to make all the parties an offer we hope they can’t refuse.
Simplify our funding, cut out wasteful and unnecessary bidding for resources, and give us long-term certainty and stability – and we can get on with improving people’s lives in our villages, towns and cities.
We have a compelling story – and evidence – about how public services can be delivered faster, better and more efficiently.
And I am happy to share the secret with ministers and ministers-in-waiting as they draft their manifesto pledges. It is: make it local.
For example, our Work Local approach gives more people skills that help them find a job for less than the cost of national schemes.
The COVID-19 pandemic gave government all the clues they needed. When people were in need, they turned to councils.
And when you need something delivering on the ground, give councils the resources and we will get it done.
Over the summer, throughout party conference season, and right up to the next General Election, we will be making the case to ‘make it local’.
I say to whoever holds the keys to Number 10 – take us up on our offer. Work with us to build a brand new central-local partnership in which local government can work to its full potential for our people, places and planet.
After the General Election, my ambition is that the LGA will hand over a plan for the first King’s Speech setting out a new local deal.
I want to see a Local Government Act from local government for local communities.
And I want to work with a Westminster government which values a trusted, respectful and equal relationship with local government.
Public services can be delivered faster, better and more efficiently at a local level. To tackle the challenges we face and deliver priorities for the public, this government, the next government, and every successive government needs to Make It Local.
- This article is based on LGA Chair Cllr Shaun Davies’ 4 July speech to the LGA’s annual conference in Bournemouth. You can read it in full at www.local.gov.uk/news. The LGA’s conference report and new campaign, Make It Local, outlining how local government is key to delivering solutions to the biggest issues for the public, is available at www.local.gov.uk/make-it-local