Review of Local Government - Emerging Findings
The Executive has now considered the emerging findings from the review of the local government aspects of the Review of Public Administration launched in July and initial proposals have been published for discussion. The proposals contained in the paper provide for the beginning of a considered, balanced and meaningful reform of the system of local government.
The emerging findings identify the desire for a more integrated approach to public service delivery across the region, with the vision for local government being linked to the vision for the Northern Ireland public service as a whole. There is also the view that councils should be empowered to take risks, innovate and take difficult decisions within the framework of new scrutiny and performance arrangements in order to respond flexibly to local need. The vision is of a local government that will improve the quality of life for people and that will create communities that are sustainable, vibrant, healthy, prosperous, stable and people-centred. The initial proposals support the development of a community planning process in which councils will work closely with communities and service providers to identify and respond to need as a critical tool in delivering these arrangements.
Discussions on the number of councils are continuing, to consider which council configuration can best deliver the vision. The emerging findings, while accepting the need for and benefit of reducing some of the existing diversity between councils, point to the balancing of this by the creation of councils of a scale that promotes the ability of communities to identify and interact with their local council. The importance of coterminosity in enhancing the effectiveness of the community planning process is acknowledged but the paper points to the need for service providers to examine this issue once the council boundaries are agreed.
The proposals for an initial package of functions that should transfer to local government are presented for discussion. The key functions proposed for transfer include Planning – covering local Development Plan functions, development control and enforcement, Local Roads Public Realm, Rural Development, Urban Regeneration and Community Development, and local economic development. Careful consideration has been and continues to be given to these proposals, with a balance to be struck between the benefits of local service delivery and the cost implications and economies of scale of disaggregating services that are currently delivered regionally.
Based on experience elsewhere in the UK, Ireland and beyond the delivery of the vision for local government will not be achieved by a single set of reform proposals, no matter how well devised those proposals might be. Achieving strong, effective and efficient local government will be a long term process that will require sustained effort over a considerable number of years. The emerging findings and the proposals outlined in the paper mark the beginning, and not the end, of a process of reform and modernisation for local government.
A programme of further engagement with stakeholders will now take place to hear what they have to say as the thinking on the three strands of the review of the RPA decisions is drawn together and before final recommendations are made to the Executive.
Emerging Findings Report 18 October 2007
