LGA chair standing down after two “amazing” years
Cllr Louise Gittins is speaking to first the night after the Local Government Chronicle’s annual awards, where Burnley Borough Council was named council of the year.
The awards were “local government at its proudest, its strongest, its very best”, says the LGA’s outgoing chair.
“Across the country, local government is there as a constant, whether it’s delivering services for vulnerable people, collecting the bins, keeping our streets clean, or providing enforcement – for example, around illegal vapes.
“Local government is the bedrock of this country. And when there are elections, officers within local government are there to support new members and administrations, and carry on delivering, day in and day out. They are the best example of public service you can find.”
It’s the pull of the local place she calls home that has shaped her “really hard” decision to stand down after two “absolutely amazing” years as LGA chair.
It was at the UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum in Leeds, in May – where Cllr Gittins was leading an LGA delegation but also representing Cheshire West and Chester Council as Leader, and Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority as its chair (since April) – that Cllr Gittins thought carefully about her decision.
“I was so pleased by the number of people coming to our stall to talk about a new combined authority and wanting to work with us. And I was thinking, ‘what a busy year ahead’,” she says.
“And then I did an LGA panel with Cllr Richard Wright, Chair of the Local Councils Network, about the future of local government, and somebody asked me at the end what made me become a councillor.
“Those two things took me right down to the grassroots of why I am a councillor – the residents of the ward who have elected me. This is where my focus needs to be.”
Cllr Gittins became LGA Chair in 2024, and her first priority was building a new relationship between central and local government following the general election.
“I think we are a more equal partner now,” she says. “The Leaders’ Council has been set up, which is our chance to formally interact with all departments within government, led jointly by ourselves and the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
“It brings in ministers and other departments to talk about all the things that impact on local government, because one of the biggest points we’ve been getting across is that local government isn’t just the MHCLG.
“It covers schools, culture, climate change, health, economic growth – everything that government does is touched by local government.
“We’ve interacted with government at a level that’s never happened before and got some really big wins. Having that regular and strong connection with government, and a united, collective, and constructive voice from the LGA directly to them, has put us in really good stead for the new chair to take the LGA forward.”
Those wins include: a multi-year financial settlement; the writing off of 90 per cent of council deficits related to provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND); additional funding for SEND, homelessness and rough sleeping, and for adults’ and children’s social care; and an earlier and bigger multi-year public health grant.
“We are a more equal partner now. The Leaders’ Council has been set up, which is our chance to formally interact with government”
Ongoing challenges remain for the sector and the LGA, says Cllr Gittins. These include: securing more funding, particularly for investment in prevention, such as in SEND; influencing Baroness Casey’s Independent Commission on Adult Social Care; navigating local government reorganisation and a new landscape of mayoral combined authorities; and looking ahead to the future.
The LGA is developing a membership offer to combined authorities and looking ahead, on behalf of the sector, to 2040, as part of its Local Government Horizons programme.
“The LGA needs to be leading by example in terms of looking to the future, and what that looks like for us as an organisation – how we need to adapt and change, and really reach out to our members and give the support that they need,” says Cllr Gittins.
“Nothing ever stands still and every challenge is an opportunity.”
Cllr Gittins also reflects on last summer’s social unrest around the anniversary of the horrific murder of three young girls in Southport, saying: “In such awful circumstances, the council was there to convene partners and support their community. And the LGA was quick to support councils and to work with government on social cohesion. That was a really big thing where it showed how we can convene and respond in an agile way.
“If you look back over many years, local government has always been great at doing that – the pandemic, Homes for Ukraine, flooding, ongoing challenges with the asylum system.
“An important role for the LGA is to be a convenor of local government, in the same way that local councils are convenors of place.
“We’ve got that ability to bring people together, whether it’s political leaders or chief executives, to look at the challenge of the moment, and what we need to do to work together to overcome that.
“It’s done informally and is very much based on relationships. But if we and our member councils had all the powers to bring the public sector together locally to deliver, it would make a huge difference – for example, in terms of early intervention and prevention work.”
Local government is “brave and ambitious” and will invest in early intervention, but other parts of the public sector “can’t always see the benefits”, she notes – highlighting, for example, the difference it would make to acute hospital admissions down the line if health services could contribute to local government’s pot for tackling damp and mould in housing now.
Cllr Gittins says the role of LGA Chair couldn’t work without all the support from the sector and the organisation itself. “I have really enjoyed visiting other councils and meeting other leaders, looking at the fantastic work they have done and sharing that good practice – and taking things back to my own council!” she says.
“At the LGA, whether it’s been staff, group leaders, board members, chairs of committees, it’s a whole-team effort. I couldn’t do what I’m doing without knowing there’s that fantastic cross-party support driving forward the voice of local government.
“That has been such a strength of the LGA, that we really do speak with one voice. As Kevin (Cllr Kevin Bentley, LGA Senior Vice-Chairman) always says, when you come into Smith Square you leave your political hat outside. And that needs to continue.”
For now, Cllr Gittins is looking forward to the LGA’s annual conference in Bournemouth next week (7-9 July), and to continuing some work on health and health inequalities, one of her policy passions.
“I am going to be doing some things to support a smooth handover,” she says.
“For example, I’ve been working with Lord Victor Adebowale, Chair of the NHS Alliance, on the important role of local government in health reforms. We’ve been working together to make sure that the voice of local government is at the heart of the 10 Year Health Plan for England.”
Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, Leader of Bury Council, has been nominated by the LGA’s Labour Group to succeed Cllr Gittins, and an election will take place at the LGA General Assembly’s meeting on 7 July.
Cllr Gittins’ advice to her successor is to “not worry about repeating yourself when lobbying government”.
“Things will happen, but the LGA and local government will respond as we always have: with agility, adaptability and resilience, so keep on pushing for the things that our members need.”