Support for local leadership
The scale of the challenge that councils are currently facing requires strong, responsive and resilient leadership.
In the latest issue:
May’s local elections – who would have won?
We will never know, of course, but the Conservatives could have been celebrating their best local election results for nearly three decades.
SEND pupils ‘missing out’
Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are not getting the support they need, with 47 of 94 local areas inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission found to have ‘serious weaknesses’.
Children’s services ‘ill-prepared’ for coronavirus
Local authority children’s services have been reduced to “crisis-driven fire-fighting” as a result of years of under-investment, children’s charities have warned.
New money for cycling and walking
A £250 million emergency ‘active travel fund’ will help encourage cycling and walking through new infrastructure such as pop-up bike lanes, protected space for cyclists, wider pavements, safer junctions and cycle and bus-only roads.
Waste and recycling centres reopen
Queues formed at local waste and recycling centres as tips started reopening in May, two months after they closed at the start of the lockdown.
Act to help leisure providers
The LGA is warning that gyms and leisure providers face a crisis point, as many aren’t eligible for the Government’s support packages.
‘Reform RTB to get new homes built’
Desperately needed new social homes could go unbuilt unless the time that councils are given to spend money from Right to Buy sales is extended from three to five years, the LGA has warned.
Paying for the pandemic
New LGA guidance raises key issues for those struggling to balance councils’ budgets laid waste by COVID-19.
A ‘green’ silver lining?
COVID-19 has forced councils to hold key meetings remotely – but there would be environmental and other benefits to continuing the practice.