24 Hour Party People

Mo Baines, APSE Chief Executive, reflects back on this year's party conference season. 

As party conference season draws to a close, it is worthwhile reflecting on some of the key discussions that emerged from APSE’s engagements around the conferences.

Local government as a sector is rarely reported in the conference write-ups and news clips. This year, the issues of immigration policy and small boats, tax and spend, and the economy, remained the dominant themes in the mainstream media. However, if we dig a little deeper amongst the councillor attendees, and the busy fringe debates and workshops, it is clear that the passion for local government is alive and kicking across all political parties.

For many, the dominant issue for local government, most especially amongst District and County Councillors, is clearly local government reorganisation. Broad agreement was evident in the recurring statement of ‘well, we wouldn’t start here would we’ with many acknowledging that if you were to draw up structures for local government, you would not arrive at the current messy system. However, what also emerged, and again with broad agreement across the political spectrum, is that social care demands and funding will not be resolved by structures alone.

When it comes to the services in England, currently provided by District Councils, there is a real fear that with many of those services delivered on a non-statutory basis, the funding for those services could further contract, leaving them in a fragile state. However, again with broad agreement, the councillors all reflected that to deliver on economic growth, decent neighbourhoods, and improve the quality of life, for younger and older people alike, then clean streets, safe and useable local parks, access to leisure facilities, and repairing potholes are the doorstep issues that consistently matter to local politicians.

Housing was an area with a clearer dividing line. The need for new homes, addressing homelessness, and the need to create decent neighbourhoods and affordable homes were not in dispute. However, some tensions and differences were naturally evident in the journey to achieve those aims, not least the role of planning reform and developers, and the skills and materials needed to deliver the outcomes.

The local environment also faced an array of contributions to debates around the conference fringes, including food waste, recycling, and, of course, the frequency of bin collections! How many bins to collect and what to collect remains an enduring source of conversation. Perhaps not unsurprisingly whilst ‘net-zero’ overall creates some Government level debates, our beleaguered councillor colleagues appeared far more vexed by ensuring that domestic waste is collected conveniently and on time. Oh, and one last source of agreement: people who drop litter should, well . . . get in the bin!

Thank you to all who contributed to our discussions!