The LGA’s competition for council officers has reached its mid-point
In January, we revealed that the LGA-run Local Government Challenge had again recruited 10 talented officers to take part in five real-life council-hosted challenges in 2024.
Up for grabs is the prestigious £10,000 Bruce-Lockhart Scholarship, sponsored by Kent and Essex County Councils in honour of former Kent Leader and LGA Chairman Lord Bruce-Lockhart, and awarded to the winning contestant to fund a project of their own design.
As first was going to press, our ‘contestants’ had completed three of the five challenges.
LG Challenge 2024 began in January, at Newcastle City Council. Topics vary from challenge to challenge, and Newcastle’s was focused on how the council can increase recycling rates and use its influence to reduce waste produced in the city.
Team Dynamic proposed a new waste collection policy, under which food waste collections would become weekly for households and more frequent for those with shared bins, alongside an engagement programme – ‘You’ve bin heard’ – targeted at families and students.
Team Victorious’s pitch included an online ‘cost-of-waste calculator’ to help residents identify savings while reducing their waste creation, based on personal habits such as food purchases, energy bills, and sustainable transport.
For challenge two, the contestants travelled to Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council, where they were tasked with designing a destination marketing plan that would weave the links between two established cultural assets – the Piece Hall, a Grade I-listed former cloth hall, and Shibden Hall, which dates back to 1420 – and an emerging location, Dean Clough Mills, a complex of 16 Grade II-listed Victorian mills.
Team Victorious dubbed their proposal ‘Calderdale Calling’ – a three-pronged strategy to connect the area with better transport links, attract inward investment, and enhance coordination with local partners.
These themes were also heavily referenced by Team Dynamic, alongside an impressive video representation of an imagined day trip to Halifax, a programme of seasonal events to promote community cohesion, and a review and evaluation system.
More recently, the contestants have completed their third challenge, at Wiltshire Council, where their task was to review information on the Household Support Fund and identify ways to mitigate impacts on the community if future funding were to cease.
Team Dynamic pitched their idea to create a single stakeholder network, titled ‘OWN’ (the One Wiltshire Network), that would build on existing, smaller, cost-of-living networks and bring in larger employers, the private sector, and the health, charity and voluntary sectors.
Team Victorious’s proposal focused on food insecurity and housing instability funded through social value with strengthened procurement processes, and managed through a new strategic partnership board, including the voluntary and community sector, local businesses, parish and town councils, area boards, and statutory partners.
The contestants are observed throughout and scored individually, with those in the winning team at each council also receiving bonus points, and we switch the teams around at every challenge to ensure everyone experiences the diverse skills and perspectives on the programme. At the halfway mark, Team Dynamic has won each of the three challenges.
Once all five challenges have been completed, four finalists will be revealed and invited to attend the LGA’s annual conference in Harrogate (2-4 July). There, they will pitch their proposals to delegates and a judging panel, before the winner is announced.
Find out more about the Local Government Challenge.