A national strategy for
improvement – Local Council
Award Scheme and beyond
Charlotte Eisenhart, National
Association of Local Councils
South West regional conference,
Tiverton, October 2015
A bit of context
• Principal councils
• Funding
• How will this affect your place and people?
• LGA: Future funding outlook for councils from 2010/11 to 2019/20
• Future funding outlook of AnyDistrict Council
• Future funding outlook of AnyCounty Council
What does this mean for us?
Change
There are huge opportunities
Help is at hand
• Advice and guidance from NALC, CALCs and
SLCC
• Local Council Award Scheme
• CiLCA and other qualifications
• Training – continuous professional development
• Resources and publications
• Events like this!
Historic Opportunity? Devo Local
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Fresh start, new Government
Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill
38 Devolution deals being discussed
Government wants these to include devolution to
town and parish councils
• Devolution expected to save £12bn
• Local devolution delivers a £1:£3 return (£3-5
billion?)
• Government encouraging parishes to get involved
and NALC will develop support with CALCs and
LGA
Delivery!
• We already are! 40,000 councillors, 8 million
“volunteer hours,” £2bn community investment
• 90% of Neighbourhood plans are parish lead
• Community Rights agenda – a third of listed
community assets have been identified by local
councils
• Active in Our Place pilots
• Taking over devolved services
• But we can do better and more consistently,
learning from the best
2 Key challenges for the sector
Building Capacity
• We need to change too!
• National Improvement Strategy for clerks,
councils and councillors, building on National
Training Strategy
• Local Council Award Scheme
• Clustering and more shared services
• Precepts and investment
Build strong partnerships
• With each other
• With principal councils (NALC working with
LGA)
• With other stakeholders including health, police,
LEPs, BIDs etc
• With the public and the voluntary and
community sectors
Star Councils
• Debra Roberts, Feock Parish Council, Clerk of
the Year
• Frome Town Council, Somerset, Council of the
Year
Source: The Telegraph