Power to the people: How municipalities are affecting change

It is the delivery agent for so much of what a bulky nationwide establishment cannot finish. The majority of voters who approach their Member of Parliament in Britain raise concerns about matters that are directly controlled by their municipal authority, or issues that are managed locally on behalf of national government.

This includes housing, education, transport, policing, waste management and recycling, neighbour nuisance and much, much more, even including many health services. Often a British MP will refer people to their municipal authority representatives — councillors — to find assistance.

It is the municipalities of local government up and down the United Kingdom that are actually delivering services. Without the municipalities and their support base of local politicians, the function of national politics would fail, or at least be significantly weakened.

As this article will show, local politics drives innovation and change, policy input and delivery, and its practitioners are the ears on the ground, hearing what people really think. 

There are thousands of locally elected officials. Most will spend a considerable amount of their time, more than their national counterparts, listening to and speaking with the electorate. That feedback is critical to pick up on changes in how voters perceive current politics. 

When absorbed and acted upon properly, it does more than sustain a thriving local municipality. It underpins national politics.

2- Size matters… but so does a joined-up political voice

Local government is often the area that faces the brunt of central government funding cuts.

In the UK, the coalition government elected in 2010 brought in over a decade of austerity. Local authorities, including my own, had their central government funding cut by the equivalent of 64p in every £1 we used to receive. 

When you have a mere 36p of income from your core funding source compared to previous £1, it can become an existential threat. For some, it did. Last year, the Local Government Association identified that 168 local authorities would have no core funding at all.

At first, some local authorities merged services to achieve economies of scale, including in London where three boroughs came together to share management of key services. But this tri-borough experiment in the west of the capital failed as political relationships broke down.

An alternative solution was more extreme. Municipal authorities were merged entirely. Their loss of individual status sought maximum economies of scale while aligning the structure of political decision making to the new authorities, to avoid the causes of the failure in London's tri-borough approach.

The most prominent example of this has been in the county of Dorset, where in April 2019 nine local authorities were abolished to be replaced with just two.  Such shifting sands are not unique to this part of the south coast. Many other municipalities further inland are facing the tides of change, being forced into radical restructures to stay above the water.

3- Out of adversity, comes opportunity

This significant reduction in resources brings major challenges but also opportunities.

Yes, it can take time to innovate but with innovation can comes success and even failure brings with it lessons to learn.  With so many local authorities across England, of different shapes and sizes, there is also an opportunity to learn from multiple examples of good practice and innovation.

One of the main areas where there can be multiple beneficiaries is the move toward net zero carbon emissions. This area has projects which contain what is known as a win-win-win troika: Delivering financial savings alongside a reduction in carbon emissions and/or other green outcomes as well as better results for your electors. 

The area of waste management demonstrates this, with innovations made in west London offering hope for how Beirut may simultaneously address the issue of managing rubbish and improving electricity supply.

In response to rising landfill costs and a move toward greener outcomes, the West London Waste Authority, in partnership with the private sector, drew up an efficient collection system and a method of transportation using low-carbon electric trains to take what once would have been landfill to a plant that generates energy from waste.

This led to an absolute zero level of waste going to landfill, an increase in recycling while also producing both heat and electricity for local buildings.

On top of the cost saving for the local authorities involved, boroughs in the scheme that borrow money at low interest were also able to act as investment bankers, providing loans to the private partner delivering the infrastructure project.

And so, the project generated further financial gain, reducing the capital cost of the project and removing any involvement for higher risk lenders being involved.  Last year the project was still paying dividends. As electricity prices rose, it brought in an £8.1m ($10m) windfall for the local authorities involved.

This is just one of thousands of examples of innovation, tried and tested and ready to replicate. These range from better health outcomes and improved life expectancy to improving independence, therefore reducing reliance on authority services.

4- Local government can be enterprising

Local authorities are capable of being more commercial themselves, outside public-private partnerships, or PPPs. With the Arab world full of entrepreneurs, there is a supreme opportunity for its local authorities to take this approach.

It often involves setting up not-for-profit enterprises, run at an arm's length from the local authority, which are usually the only shareholder and receive the returns.

In England, the housing sector has been at the forefront of this change. Housing is one of the most basic needs of our electors. The challenge for local authorities in meeting it has centred around prudent borrowing.  For many years, capital controls have been overly restrictive, but the 2011 Localism Act allowed authorities to establish their own private companies.

It's no secret that there is money to be made from property development. But for years councils have had to negotiate, beg and subsidise to get the housing stock they required as part of wider developments run by large private companies, which then keep the profits, even after local authorities dealt with all the aggravation that comes with new developments.

Change was due. By the end of 2016, some 98 councils, more than a quarter of the total, had established, or were considering establishing, their own housing companies, compared to just seven, only two years earlier. By 2021, that figure had risen to more than 80% of all councils. 

By 2021, that figure had risen to more than 80% of all councils.  

For some, like my own local authority in Ealing, the companies are being used to provide a more social mix of housing to meet the needs of local electors, building homes with higher quality standards. It is part of an ambitious and delivered promise of 2,500 genuinely affordable homes over the past four years.

But as with any enterprise, there are well documented stories of failure too.  So, while local authorities can be enterprising, it is important to note, that like any business, they can make a profit and return both financial and social dividends or make a loss and face external market forces. It is, therefore, important to have commercial know-how and an active shareholding to ensure success.

5- Have purpose and use every penny to deliver change

Heraclitus stated that the only constant in life, is change.  Local authority politicians must lead change by providing the vision and leadership to define what it looks and feels like. Otherwise, they risk having change imposed upon them.

Everyone in the world needs purpose — a reason to get up every morning.  Local authorities are no different, you have staff, you have partners, you have electors, all need a vision to get behind and to have clarity on the road you are taking. 

They may not always agree and it may be difficult at times, or you may need to be pragmatic to avoid obstacles you couldn't have envisaged along the way, but a failure to plan amounts to planning to fail.

The Local Government Association states: "At the heart of healthy local democracy is effective political leadership with councillors who are well-equipped, supported, resilient, and confident to make a difference." 

There is no point of being in politics if you can't look back at your tenure and show the difference you have made and hopefully, it will be positive!

Alongside a well-developed plan and manifesto, you must think of how every penny you spend helps you to those goals. Many will take an approach that a balanced budget is an end in itself. Those who deliver meaningful change see the budget as the means to do that.

Councillors often think of their own in-house spend, but the spending power of other government agencies within your districts is usually more significant. Harnessing that can truly affect change. Think about what partnerships are in place, ask how can you work together to deliver more beneficial outcomes and the best value? 

The principle of best value is not new. Delivering services via contracts with the private sector has evolved immensely.  At first councils had to consider who was offering the service specified for the best price, but as many readers will be unsurprised to hear, the best price, doesn't usually translate to the best service! 

And so came the concept of best value, taking into account both price and specification, balanced on a scorecard to award contracts. 

Now, it is usual practice for councils to consider and give a significant weighting to 'social value' — the notion that private providers spend profits and corporate social responsibility budgets spent locally and in line the council's objectives, including support for local employment, community projects and reduction in carbon emissions.

This approach works best when the municipality is clear to contractors on exactly what its priorities term of social value, with clear targets that are managed in the same way as any other part of the contract. 

To be an effective driver of positive change, as a municipal politician you need to offer strong, clear leadership. You need to be engaged with you community, providing it with well-structured and well-supported services. You need to be enterprising, focused and determined on how you spend available funds to make a real difference.