Local authorities: Powerhouses or scapegoats?

2020 ◽  
pp. 99-122
Author(s):  
John Sturzaker ◽  
Alexander Nurse
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk

Some have argued that reforms to urban governance in the UK in recent years have “hollowed out” the local level, emphasising the levels “above” and “below” it. This reflects a broader perceived loss of focus on cities themselves, but a great deal of power and responsibility still remains at the local authority level. This chapter considers how local government autonomy has changed in recent years, within the context of a broader history of local government in the UK. It then reflects upon the “entrepreneurial turn” in local government, for some a consequence of reduced funding for local authorities, and considers recent evidence of a return to “municipal socialism” in England and beyond.

Overcoming austerity effects through local authority direct action?

2020 ◽  
pp. 83-122
Author(s):  
Janice Morphet ◽  
Ben Clifford
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
Government Funding ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
Political Act ◽  
The Uk

This chapter deals with the application of austerity since 2010 as a political act designed to transform the way in which local authorities in the United Kingdom operate and are funded. It explains how the local authorities have been dependent on government funding as the UK is considered as one of the most centralised states in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It also recounts how the UK government in 2010 decided that the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) funding paid to councils would be removed through annual tapering to zero by 2020. The chapter probes the intention of the UK government to replace RSG with each of the council's retention of 75 per cent of the local business rates. It analyses the system of local government funding that operated until local government reorganisation in 1974.

scholarly journals An evaluation of the information content of local authority websites in the UK using citizen-based scenarios

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (98) ◽  
pp. 45-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Olphert ◽  
Leela Damodaran
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Information Provision ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Government Services ◽  
The Uk

The UK Government is pursuing ambitious targets for the delivery of e-government at the local level. As part of the implementation of local e-government, all of the 468 local authorities in the UK now have a website. Surveys show significant advances in the delivery of online local government services, but despite this the level of usage of e-government by citizens in the UK is low compared to other countries at a similar level of e-maturity. One reason hypothesised for this is that the websites do not meet citizens' information needs and consequently fail to engage them. A pilot study was undertaken to explore the use of real life scenario-based queries as a method for evaluating information provision on local authority websites. The findings suggest that even websites that perform highly in terms of accessibility, transactional capability and ease of use will not necessarily meet citizens' information needs. The authors conclude that a citizen-centred approach to developing e-government systems, including the identification of information needs, could generate the 'user pull' needed to stimulate uptake and achieve the intended benefits.

Spatial and Institutional Analysis of the Voivodships Expenditure on Culture in the Years 2003 – 2015

e-Finanse ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
Adam Mateusz Suchecki
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
The State ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Location Quotient ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
National Heritage

AbstractFollowing the completion of the process of decentralisation of public administration in Poland in 2003, a number of tasks implemented previously by the state authorities were transferred to the local level. One of the most significant changes to the financing and management methods of the local authorities was the transfer of tasks related to culture and national heritage to the set of tasks implemented by local governments. As a result of the decentralisation process, the local government units in Poland were given significant autonomy in determining the purposes of their budgetary expenditures on culture. At the same time, they were obliged to cover these expenses from their own revenues.This paper focuses on the analysis of expenditures on culture covered by the voivodship budgets, taking into consideration the structure of cultural institutions by their types, between 2003-2015. The location quotient (LQ) was applied to two selected years (2006 and 2015) to illustrate the diversity of expenditures on culture in individual voivodships.

The Implementation Approach of LCCF Checklist in Development Control: Challenges for policymakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
T B A
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Control Process ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Development Control

Global warming, climate change is now affecting the world. The effort of the leaders to achieving the sustainable development is from New Urban Agenda (NUA), Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and local level is local authorities.  SDG’s goal number 13 takes urgent action to combat climate change and its impact also SDG’s number 11 to sustainable cities and communities. The gap of this paper  Different cities face different challenges and issues. Local authorities will play a significant role in undertaking policy initiatives to combat carbon emissions of the city. Low Carbon Cities (LCC) is to reduce carbon emissions in all human activities in cities.  The objective of this paper is by applying the LCCF Checklist in planning permission for sustainable development. The methodology of this research is a mixed-method, namely quantitative and qualitative approach. The survey methods are by interview, questionnaire, and observation. Town planners are the subject matter expert in managing the planning permission submission for the development control of their areas. Descriptive statistical analysis will be used to show the willingness of the stakeholders, namely the developers and planning consultants in implementing of the LCCF. The contribution of this research will gauge readiness at the local authorities level. The findings of the LCCF checklist are identified as important in planning permission into the development control process. Surprisingly, that challenges and issues exist in multifaceted policy implementation the LCCF Checklist in a local authority. Finally based on Subang Jaya Municipal Councils, the existing approach in the application of the LCCF Checklist in the development control process will be useful for development control in a local authority towards sustainable development.  

scholarly journals Disparities by deprivation: The geographical impact of unprecedented changes in local authority financing on the voluntary sector in England

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110348
Author(s):  
David Clifford
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
Recent Change ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
Disadvantaged Communities ◽  
Local Government Finance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Deprived Areas

Over the last decade, the local government finance system in England has experienced ‘genuinely revolutionary change’: overall revenues have declined and councils are now more reliant on locally raised taxes. Importantly, the nature of change has varied geographically: urban councils serving poorer communities have experienced the biggest declines in their service spending. This paper considers the impact of these spatially uneven changes on the voluntary sector. We follow through time charities known to be in receipt of local government funding at the time of peak council budgets in 2009–2010 and describe trends in the income of these charities until 2016–2017. We show that, just as the pattern of change in local government financing has been spatially uneven, so the trend in charities’ income has varied geographically. Indeed the spatially regressive nature of recent change in charities’ income is remarkable: while the median charity in the least deprived decile of the local authority distribution experienced little change in their income, the median charity in the most deprived decile experienced a 20% decline. The results provide the strongest evidence to date that, in countries with a history of partnership between government and the voluntary sector, voluntary organisations in more deprived areas are particularly vulnerable to sizeable reductions in the level of local government spending. Indeed, by illustrating for the first time the sizeable reductions in the income of charities in disadvantaged communities, the results demonstrate an important mechanism through which ‘austerity urbanism’ becomes salient in the lives of individuals in deprived areas.

scholarly journals Outsourcing or Giving all Out? Experience from Tanzania Local Government Revenue Collection

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukio Mrutu ◽  
Pendo Mganga
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Clear Picture ◽  
Government Revenue ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Fiscal Autonomy ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Revenue Collection ◽  
Expected Outcome

Outsourcing revenue collection in Local Government Authorities  has been adopted as a mechanism to solve the previous problems of revenue collection which resulted into loss and missmanagement of the whole process. One of the expectations was to increase revenue collection which will  provide a room for fiscal autonomy. However, experience from few local government authorities which have outsourced their revenue collection shows that, the whole process of outsourcing has not yielded the expected outcome especially on enabling local authorities to have fiscal autonomy instead it has turned to benefit the private agent who collect Tax. By using secondary data this paper attempts to show how the process of outsourcing is benefiting the private agent and therefore it is like giving everything out. It concludes that, though outsourcing seems to benefit local authorities by reducing some tasks especially on tax collection, outsorcing benefits much a private agent and therefore quick meausures should be adopted including building the capacity of Local Authorities in identifying the sources of revenue and  in estimating the actual collections so as to have clear picture of how much will be generated by the agent and what should be the appropriate amount to be submitted to the Local authority.

scholarly journals Experiencing Event Management During the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Public Sector Perspective

2022 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Coles ◽  
Giselle Garcia ◽  
Evelyn O'Malley ◽  
Cathy Turner
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
The Body ◽  
Event Management ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
The World ◽  
Local Recovery ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Opening Up

Events have played a significant role in the way in which the Coronavirus pandemic has been experienced and known around the world. Little is known though about how the pandemic has impacted on supporting, managing and governing events in municipal (i.e., local) authorities as key stakeholders, nor how events have featured in the opening-up of localities. This paper reports on empirical research with senior events officers for local authorities in the UK on these key knowledge gaps. Specifically, it examines events officers' unfolding experiences of the pandemic. The paper points to unpreparedness for a crisis of this scale and magnitude, and the roles of innovation, adaptation and co-production in the emergent response. It highlights the transformative nature of the pandemic through reconsiderations of the purpose of public sector involvement in events and, from a policy perspective, how relatively smaller-scale, more agile and lower-risk arts events and performances can figure in local recovery. Finally, while the effects on, and response of, the body corporate (the local authority) to crises is an obvious focus, it is important to recognise those of the individuals who manage the response and drive change.

scholarly journals Commercial property tax in the UK: business rates and rating appeals

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 602-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Michael Greenhalgh ◽  
Kevin Muldoon-Smith ◽  
Sophie Angus
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the introduction of the business rates retention scheme (BRRS) in England which transferred financial liability for backdated appeals to LAs. Under the original scheme, business rates revenue, mandatory relief and liability for successful appeals is spilt 50/50 between central government and local government which both share the rewards of growth and bear the risk of losses. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a microanalysis approach into researching local government finance, conducting a case study of Leeds, to investigate the impact of appeals liability and reveal disparities in impact, through detailed examination of multiple perspectives in one of the largest cities in the UK. Findings The case study reveals that Leeds, despite having a buoyant commercial economy driven by retail and service sector growth, has been detrimentally impacted by BRRS as backdated appeals have outweighed uplift in business rates income. Fundamentally BRRS is not a “one size fits all” model – it results in winners and losers – which will be exacerbated if local authorities get to keep 100 per cent of their business rates from 2020. Research limitations/implications LAs’ income is more volatile as a consequence of both the rates retention and appeals liability aspects of BRRS and will become more so with the move to 100 per cent retention and liability. Practical implications Such volatility impairs the ability of local authorities to invest in growth at the same time as providing front line services over the medium term – precisely the opposite of what BRRS was intended to do. It also incentivises the construction of new floorspace, which generates risks overbuilding and exacerbating over-supply. Originality/value The research reveals the significant impact of appeals liability on LAs’ business rates revenues which will be compounded with the move to a fiscally neutral business rates system and 100 per cent business rates retention by 2020.

scholarly journals ‘Deal or no deal?’ Governing urban infrastructure funding and financing in the UK City Deals

Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 1448-1476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter O’Brien ◽  
Andy Pike
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
International Investment ◽  
National State ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Administrative Culture ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Political Economic

How urban infrastructure is funded, financed and governed is a central issue for states at the national, city-regional and city scales. Urban infrastructure is being financialised by financial and state actors and transformed into an asset in the international investment landscape. Local governments are being compelled by national state and financial institutions to be more entrepreneurial in their infrastructure funding and financing and to reorganise their governance arrangements. This article explains the socially and spatially uneven unfolding and implications of urban infrastructure financialisation and local government attempts to implement more entrepreneurial practices and governance forms. The empirical focus is the City Deals in the UK: a new form of urban governance and infrastructure investment based upon negotiated central–local government agreements on decentralised powers, responsibilities and resources. The continued authority of the highly centralised UK national state, its managerialist institutions and conservative/risk-averse administrative culture have constrained urban infrastructure financialisation and entrepreneurial urban governance in the UK City Deals. Situated in their particular spatial, temporal, political-economic and institutional settings, financialisation is understood as a socially and spatially variegated process and urban governance is interpreted as the articulation and mixing of new entrepreneurial and enduring managerialist forms.

scholarly journals Performance Management as an Alternative Tool for Local Governance: Evidence from Ghanaian Local Government Sector

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Abagsonema Abane ◽  
Boon-Anan Phinaitrup
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Performance Culture ◽  
Government Sector ◽  
Improvement Programs ◽  
Secondary Data Sources

The benefit of performance management is to have value for money and make local authorities more responsive to the needs of the grassroots. Therefore, the study addresses the perceived challenges which have been taken-for-granted in institutionalising performance culture at the local level in the context of sub-Sharan Africa. The purpose of this research is to investigate the progress and challenges affecting the institutionalisation of performance management in local government authorities to understand how these impediments impacts on performance culture in local governance. Using two major secondary data sources from Local Government Service, the study analyzes the contents of four key performance areas and the performance rating of local government authorities in Ghana . The study finds evidence to support that performance management may be an alternative tool to enhance the performance of local authorities. However , insufficient resource allocation, the absence of performance improvement programs and involvement of employees remains a challenge.

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