Supporting our local government partners is in our sector’s interests

COMMENT The more I reflect on last week’s Autumn Statement, the more concerned I become about the challenges facing local councils across our country, and the more I believe our industry should be taking greater action to support our partners in local government. There were many positives in the statement. A clear focus on reality was most welcome, as were the measures on business rates, with the multiplier frozen and downward transition abolished. While I still believe that the system needs fundamental reform, it shows the government is finally listening to our partners in retail and hospitality. However, looking beyond the speech and considering the Office for Budget Responsibility report, the outlook remains worrying for councils across the UK. The OBR suggests a spending squeeze across different government departments ranging from £5.3bn to £15.3bn, and experience tells us that funding from government to local authorities will certainly be caught up in that squeeze. Earlier this month I wrote to the chancellor warning of the concern that if local authority budgets were put under greater pressure this would undermine our shared ambitions on growth and the levelling-up agenda. If levelling up is to be the way we are going to deliver place-based growth, local authority funding must be a part of that. I firmly believe it is in both our sector’s and the national interest. Better funding for planning teams On the first point, I am sure many EG readers will have their own experiences of dealing with local authority planning departments where the depletion of resources in local government has led to significant delays in many major projects. As a minimum, better funding of local authority planning departments should be something our sector can all unite behind. But it’s not just in these areas where you see the impact of funding reductions. The local government leaders I have the fortune of speaking with – from London to Leeds to Manchester and Salford – are conscientious individuals who want to think and plan in long-term partnerships with business and others. Survival mode Their ability to act on these long-term ambitions, however, is made significantly harder by the looming threat of cuts at a time when they know the public will need their services more than ever. Lack of funding is cornering local authorities into survival mode, in contrast with the rhetoric from national government – and from our sector – that they should be in growth mode. Part of this issue was really brought home to me when reading a report from team members who attended a recent cost-of-living workshop, convened by council leader Georgia Gould in the London Borough of Camden. The purpose of the event was to bring together the council with the voluntary sector, community groups and business to explore what more we can collectively do to address the cost-of-living crisis in the area – an issue that is sharply coming into focus for many. One of the practical factors underpinning this workshop was the council’s diminished spending power. In 2010, Camden Council received £1,123 funding per resident from central government; this year that figure is £367 like-for-like funding per resident – at a time when demand for council services is only going to increase. With less support from government, Camden is not alone in needing its partners to step up and help. Supporting communities There is always more that business can be doing to support our communities, including us – we are creating warm hubs across our shopping centres and looking at various other activities to support lower socio-economic communities, connected to our Realising Potential fund. However, we need to recognise that councils’ place at the heart of communities means they hold the keys to unlocking efficient support for those who need it, a job they can only deliver when effectively funded. So, what can our sector do, beyond supporting community initiatives directly, as so many of us already do? I am increasingly coming to the view that this is something on which we should campaign. We are all quick to lobby for reform of business rates or planning, but maybe it is time our sector threw its collective weight behind a campaign for our partners in local government. When something is clearly in our sector’s interests as well as the national interest, it seems silly not to. Mark Allan is chief executive at Landsec