It’s time to support local authorities – ADEPT’s view on the forthcoming budget
Ahead of next week’s Budget, the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) has called on the Chancellor to step up support for local authorities.
ADEPT President, Darryl Eyers said: “Local authorities provide the essential services and local leadership on which our communities and businesses depend. In seeking to ‘level up’ those areas of the country that have been left behind, the Government will depend on the experience, expertise and innovation of local councils.
“Place directors deliver the universal services that are accessed by everyone. We are leading the drive towards decarbonisation and clean growth that will be the future of the UK’s post Brexit economy. However, to meet the Government’s own net zero target, we need sufficient support and resource to deliver at scale and at pace, while still protecting public health, supporting vulnerable groups and local businesses.
“It cannot be an either/or scenario. Local authorities need a bigger slice of the cake, particularly when current budgets are not sufficient to ensure our infrastructure is resilient enough to survive ever more extreme weather events, such as the recent floods.”
The Association is calling on the Chancellor to review how local authorities access funding. Although competitive bidding processes have their place, an over reliance on them becomes incredibly resource-intensive for councils bidding into multiple pots. For those that are unsuccessful, valuable time and investment that might have been channelled elsewhere have been wasted. This is especially so when timescales are short and the pots are small.
Eyers continued: “Local authorities are often faced with putting programmes together based on small pots of funding from different streams, which is a deeply inefficient means of managing services. We know what is right for our areas, and the Government should trust us to get on with it. We need funding brought together in a single pot for place-based services that will enable us to deliver for our businesses and communities.”
Place directors are responsible for many of the service areas at the forefront of the fight against climate change. Local schemes can include low and ultra-low emission transport for local fleets, support for retrofitting homes and workplaces, nature-based flood defences, that support bio-diversity and active transport, and access to green spaces that support health and wellbeing. The challenge for local authorities is not in creating these schemes, it is in delivering them at pace and at scale.
ADEPT is looking to the Government to make good on its promise that this will be an environment budget. The Association wants to see real intent behind how the Government will support local authorities to tackle the climate crisis through the Shared Prosperity Fund, national infrastructure investment and updating the Green Book to reflect the statutory net zero carbon by 2050 target.
Eyers said: “If we are serious about rebalancing the regions, improving outcomes for all and achieving net zero, we need to support our local authorities. ADEPT members are being squeezed by competing demands and uncertain funding. We have transformed, revised and reduced services and still we support our communities. We are simply looking to Government to equip us with the resources we need to help us deliver on its commitments.”