Josh Westerling
Policy Manager
After publishing its White Paper, the Government has taken a confident step forward with English devolution that continues on the path set by previous governments. Now, we must raise the prospect of the Government going one step beyond what has come before.
More powers for mayors
The most fleshed-out parts of the White Paper concern devolution to mayoral strategic authorities. Here, a new devolution framework is being introduced that is available by default rather than by needing to seek a deal with central government. The approach is a welcome shift from a centre that has traditionally been reticent to let power go easily. This comes alongside additional powers for mayors on strategic planning, housing, transport and skills.
Importantly, and in line with Power to Change’s long-term calls regarding regeneration funding, areas that agree to have mayors will have access to flexible, allocated funding, including a long-term investment fund. Once the area qualifies, funding will be granted through a flexible Integrated Settlement. This moves away from competitive, short-term and fragmented funding pots that characterised and hampered levelling up funding, which we critiqued at the time.
Tied to the delivery of this single funding settlement is a new statutory requirement for mayors to set out Local Growth Plans. These will set out a long-term vision for regional growth and a path to achieving it, including identifying investment propositions for Local Government Pension Schemes and the Government’s forthcoming National Wealth Fund. Growth Plans present an opportunity for mayors to help meet Labour’s national growth mission. But if mayors want this investment to be felt in the lives of people across their regions, they must use this opportunity to support the growth of the social economy.
Going further
The White Paper also sets in motion a new wave of local government reorganisation, which will remove district councils and create a more uniform tier of unitary councils across England. With a guide population size of 500,000 people or more, this could be a backward step for localism, moving power away from a more local level. But through the White Paper, government also acknowledges the need to take communities along on the path of devolution, and that ‘for hyper-local issues, communities should be empowered to make change happen’.
Yet it would be fair to say that the neighbourhood or ‘hyper-local’ level is the least fleshed out part of the White Paper. On governance, we are currently supporting a pilot in Shropshire of a community covenant, where the council and the community come together to share power and resources, making decisions together. With new pilots set to be launched next year, we will be directly feeding what we learn into government, to help put meat on the bones of the White Paper.
The White Paper does reiterate that the English Devolution Bill will deliver a new Community Right to Buy – giving communities first dibs on important local assets that they care about. This is a right that Power to Change and many others have long campaigned for. It also leaves the door open to placing more power at the neighbourhood level, as the Government “will look at the case for strengthening communities with greater rights to be involved in their local issues”.
There are existing ideas about what these ‘greater rights’ could be, like a Community Right to Shape Services and a Community Right to Control Investment, that would both put real power in the hands of communities. With the We’re Right Here campaign, we will be joining that charge to get these important powers included in the English Devolution Bill and form part of the mooted communities strategy.
Putting money where your mouth is
In all this, resources need to come alongside new powers to ensure communities can take advantage of this opportunity. The White Paper acknowledges this. It commits to reforming the Long Term Plan for Towns into a new regeneration programme that will empower communities in areas of high deprivation. This investment reflects that this government is learning from the previous Labour government’s New Deal for Communities.
One of the most vital lessons of the New Deal for Communities is that community participation is essential to creating a legacy from investment at the neighbourhood level. Many of the most successful New Deal for Communities projects gave communities the skills and capacity to form community businesses and community anchor organisations. These projects have created a sustainable legacy for this investment and continue delivering for communities to this day. The revised Long Term Plan for Towns should give communities a greater say in how this funding is spent, and equip them to build on this investment.
The White Paper also commits to the delivery of the remainder of the Community Ownership Fund through 2024-25. It’s a decision that many communities have been waiting for since May. However, it does not set out a longer-term plan for funding community ownership – which will be vital alongside the introduction of the Community Right to Buy. This will likely be laid out at the Spending Review next year.
Outside of the White Paper, the Community Wealth Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund’s new funding pots should be viewed as complementary to a community empowerment agenda. These funds should be aligned with this agenda where possible.
While in some quarters, community rights are seen as something ‘nice to have’ for the middle classes, e view it as a serious way of addressing the disempowerment that people feel in their everyday lives – especially those living in the most deprived communities. We will be pushing for the appropriate resources and support to sit alongside these new powers so they make a real difference everywhere.
More to do
The English Devolution White Paper takes an important step forward. In 2025 there will be key moments such as the conclusion of the Spending Review, a mooted communities strategy, and the English Devolution Bill itself. For each moment, we’ll be putting forward ideas to take the English devolution one step beyond what has come before.
