Search Results
There are 3 item(s) tagged with the keyword "councillors".
- Displaying: 1 - 3 of 3
- 1. Elected members line of duty
From sorting out the bins to strategic oversite of high street renewals, from sunny green parks to pot-holed roads, an awful lot of business starts and ends with local councillors. Those putting themselves up for election this May are probably feeling a mixture of excitement and apprehension with regard to not only the electoral process but wondering what they are letting themselves in for.
Of course, some will have been here before and know the restrictions of the existing system but for some newbies it will be a voyage of discovery where they may be about to find out that their bid to change the local ‘world’ for the better comes with limitations and frustrations despite the democratic mandate given to them by local people.
It should not however be unreasonable to expect that having won a local election, and having been entrusted with that local leadership role by the public, that Councillors would have, at the very least, oversight of all public funds spent within neighbourhoods and wider council areas. Rightly they should be regarded as place leaders, the voice of the public, there to allocate scarce resources in a fair and balanced way across all communities; not an easy task given current finances.
- 2. Time for Ministers to trust councils to deliver for communities
The country recently elected a new parliament to Westminster, so what will the public want to see at the top of ministerial in-trays?
It’s very timely that Survation has just completed APSE’s annual polling of public opinion on local government services. What it finds is that satisfaction with services is starting to drop and people are noticing a decline in their locality. They are also saying they want to see more of the tax that they pay given to councils to spend in their local area.
If the new Government want to demonstrate that the decade associated with austerity has passed then the public clearly want to see visible improvements across their neighbourhood services. This means investment across everything from public realm to affordable housing. Social care also remains important in public opinion but this is balanced against these wider priorities.
A consistent trend is that trust is continuously increasing in councils and councillors to get decisions correct about their local area and to deliver services directly to local people.
- 3. Two Tribes? Exploring the future role of elected members
APSE’s recent publication Two Tribes? Exploring the future role of elected members, has proven timely given some of the recent governance challenges that have been thrown at local government.
More than a decade on from modernisation of political management structures, which replaced the existing committee system with a formal cabinet, overview and scrutiny system, one of the main issues emerging from the research is the feeling of disillusionment amongst non-executive elected members, who feel marginalised from real decision making with little influence over issues that affect their local areas.
- Displaying: 1 - 3 of 3
Promoting excellence in public services
APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) is a not for profit unincorporated association working with over 300 councils throughout the UK. Promoting excellence in public services, APSE is the foremost specialist in local authority frontline services, hosting a network for frontline service providers in areas such as waste and refuse collection, parks and environmental services, cemeteries and crematorium, environmental health, leisure, school meals, cleaning, housing and building maintenance.
.png)
.png)
