Communities Have Most at Stake in Devolution Push, Warns Councils Chief

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The communities that rely on council services every day stand to gain or lose the most from the government’s devolution plans. Eamonn O’Brien, chair of the Local Government Association, has warned that the people best placed to speak for those communities must be heard now, while the outcome is still being shaped.

Writing in Local Government Chronicle, Mr O’Brien (Lab) argues that decisions taken in this phase of devolution will affect residents for decades. Councils, as the bodies delivering services in every neighbourhood, cannot afford simply to react after those decisions are made. They must help design them, he says.

The stakes for the public are considerable. Devolution, in his view, is not only about growth; it is a platform for reforming the public services people depend on. The prize, as he describes it, includes stronger local leadership, better public services, faster growth and more empowered communities. Reaching it, he cautions, will require more than new institutions. It will require a renewed commitment to local government as a whole.

The LGA, Mr O’Brien notes, has long pressed successive governments to devolve power to communities. Over the past decade, England’s devolution story has been closely tied to metro mayors, and in many places those mayors have become powerful champions for their regions, attracting investment, driving growth, improving transport and giving communities a stronger national voice. As a council leader in Greater Manchester, working closely with a mayor who has since become prime minister, he has seen first-hand how effective these arrangements can be at their best, delivering real benefits for residents and businesses alike.

With the government now embarking on its most significant phase of devolution yet, he sees reason for optimism. The ambition to rebalance power, strengthen local leadership and drive growth is shared across local government. Decisions on local government reorganisation have been paused and are under review, but the government has said it remains committed to devolution. As that review progresses, Mr O’Brien insists the LGA must be part of the discussion, bringing the experience and insights of councils that deliver services every day. Decisions of this scale, he argues, will be strongest when informed by the expertise of local leaders and places.

His central warning concerns the foundations. The government has moved with pace and ambition to empower strategic authorities and mayors to drive growth, but it must also acknowledge, he argues, that their success depends on strong local government, where the expertise, experience and connections into every neighbourhood actually lie. Local authorities are struggling with rising demands and increasingly stretched resources, so the ambitions for devolution to drive growth cannot be fully realised without a resilient, sustainable and properly empowered local government.

The connection between financial health and delivery runs through his argument. If councils are consumed by financial pressures, struggling to recruit and retain staff, and facing ever-growing demand in critical services, it becomes harder for them to play the role devolution requires. By contrast, if councils have the capacity and resources to thrive, they become powerful partners in delivering the outcomes government wants to see.

That is why, he writes, the next stage of devolution cannot simply focus on structures. It must answer a more important question: what is the role of every part of the system? Mayors, strategic authorities and councils each bring complementary strengths. Strategic authorities provide long-term economic vision and regional leadership, while councils provide the local knowledge and trusted relationships that turn that vision into delivery meeting specific local needs.

On funding, Mr O’Brien is direct. Current fiscal devolution proposals alone will not address the long-standing financial challenges facing councils. Ahead of the Budget and spending review, he calls on the government to work with local government to secure a long-term financial settlement that enables councils to drive growth and make devolution a success, and to provide the resources needed to support public service reform and invest in prevention while continuing to meet existing service pressures. Without the ability to run reform and prevention alongside existing services, opportunities to transform outcomes and reduce costs will remain constrained.

Meanwhile, he argues that the current review of local government structures strengthens the case for accelerating devolution, including greater fiscal devolution to give local leaders flexibility to invest in what works for their communities, alongside reforms bringing public services together around people and places.

Delivering quickly and delivering well, he concludes, are not mutually exclusive. The best way to accelerate progress is to build strong relationships from the outset and ensure every part of local government is fully engaged in shaping the future settlement. The LGA stands ready to play its part, bringing councils together, sharing learning, supporting improvement and building capacity for successful devolution, and working with strategic authorities and mayors so the system is greater than the sum of its parts. If the government’s devolution revolution is to fulfil its promise, it must empower not only places but the councils that make those places work.