Levelling up requires a reinvention of the relationship between national, local and community governance
The Government’s Levelling Up White Paper was published in February 2022 and set out an ambitious programme to reduce inequality and close the gaps in productivity, health, income and opportunity within the United Kingdom.
Councils have a material interest in the outcome of this agenda.
We want our local economies to thrive, the vulnerable to be taken care of, and our places to provide attractive and healthy environments to live, work and visit.
We recognise that these are long-term challenges that require sustainable finance, a coherent strategy, partnership, and policy stability: there are few, if any, quick or cheap fixes available.
As such, the LGA’s City Regions and People and Places Boards convened a Levelling Up Locally Inquiry in early 2022, out of the ambition held by local leaders everywhere to do the best for their people and places, with the aim of bridging the gap between national diagnosis and local delivery.
We gathered a panel of independent experts to consider the realities of levelling up locally, the role of councils, and the relationship between this agenda and the future resilience of the UK.
The inquiry took the form of four roundtables and engaged with more than 70 organisations, drawing in contributions and sparking new ideas and best practice.
In the year since the White Paper, new devolution deals and new resources have taken small steps towards greater local control, but the scale of the challenge continues to demand nothing less than a wholesale reinvention of the relationship between national, local and community governance.
The inquiry’s recommendations (see below) can provide key elements for that new relationship. The LGA looks forward to working with partners across society to help explore and deliver on their potential.
Levelling up locally – recommendations
Creating the conditions
- To better address regional and demographic inequality, councils’ and combined authorities’ key role in economic growth and prosperity should be recognised, and they should be empowered to fairly keep the proceeds of local growth to reinvest according to local need.
- To reduce inefficiency and strengthen the case for investment, competitive funds should be replaced by a single pot of capital funding allocated according to a robust evidence base, allowing councils and combined authorities to invest in social and community infrastructure.
Strengthening the role of local government
- Pilot, and quickly roll out, single budgets for all places that want them under the leadership of local government, enabling better join-up of public services, more preventative investment and improved outcomes for communities.
- At their best, local government leaders are representative of the communities they serve. Local and national government should build on existing campaigns to work with communities and partners to develop a talent pipeline of future leaders that better reflects the diversity of need facing people and place.
Local and national priorities
- Improve policymaking by giving local and community leaders a formal role in ensuring people’s experiences are a key part of policy design.
- Embed progress for those facing the greatest inequalities by working with diverse and underrepresented groups to shape the levelling up metrics and missions, and evaluate tangible progress over the longer term.
- Strengthen the ability of Whitehall to act as a strategic partner to places by creating transparent and targeted cross-departmental plans to accelerate joined-up delivery across government.