The localism agenda

Abstract

Localism is the focus of this special edition of Local Economy. Localism and its close relative, the ‘Big Society’, have become a central part of the lexicon of the coalition government since it came to power in May 2010. Coalition government rhetoric puts great stress on the need to decentralize power to local government and local communities (localism) which, in turn, will help build the ‘Big Society’ of engaged local communities and individuals. This heralds the promise of a new dawn, both for local democracy and dynamic and invigorated communities. Yet a word of caution is needed here, for we have been here before. A brief survey of the countless initiatives of the previous Labour government’s 13 years in office highlights a good deal of rhetoric about strengthening local democracy, developing a new localism and empowering local communities, yet the reality often fell well short of this rhetoric. Central government may talk big about the need to decentralize power to the local level, but its hands invariably stay firmly gripped to the levers of power. To be fair, the current coalition government has been in power only for some 18 months. Therefore we can only make some tentative conclusions about its localism agenda. Such an analysis is also compounded by the fact that both localism and the ‘Big Society’ are concepts whose meaning and application are hotly contested. However, there have been some interesting developments. Giving local councils a power of general competence (as proposed in the Decentralisation and Localism Bill) is potentially a significant advance for local government autonomy, yet this new power comes with many limits and restrictions. This raises many questions about the substantive impact that it may have. In addition, as part of its promotion of the ‘Big Society’, the coalition government and in particular, David Cameron, has spoken of the need to radically reshape local services by bringing in new providers from the voluntary sector and local community groups – yet confusion and hesitancy reign in this area. The recently published white paper on the reform of public services is of interest not so much for what it says, but for what it does not say. In the world of local government finance there have been some potentially promising developments. For example, there has been a reduction in the ring-fencing of central government grants to local government, giving local councils greater discretion in how they spend these monies. In addition, the government has brought forward proposals for some relocalizing of the business