Chief executive’s bulletin

1 June 2023

A new online event on empowering young voices in your community

This week we launched a new online event on empowering young voices in your community, taking place on 25 October 2023. Young people’s voices, views, and ideas are essential for local (parish and town) councils and shouldn’t be overlooked! The event provides practical tips and guidance on new ways to engage with young people in your community, understand their needs, and gather their views on crucial topics. Register your place today and visit our website to learn more about our other online events.

NALC urges government to retain local council green planning role

We have urged the government to retain local councils’ central green planning role. In our response to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities consultation, Environmental Outcomes Report: a new approach to environmental assessment, we argued that any attempt to replace the current system of Strategic Environmental Assessment in the planning system with Environmental Outcomes Reports must not result in a weakening of environmental protection or a reduced opportunity for local councils to be able to comment on environmental issues.

Local councils benefit from Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme

It was great to see many local councils benefit from the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, which invests funding to level up facilities across the United Kingdom. The programme will invest over £300 million between 2021 and 2025 to make essential facility improvements so communities have a high-quality pitch to play on. Check out the interactive map of successful projects in England for 2022/23.

Management Board

Our Management Board met remotely on 18 May 2023 and noted that the recent local council elections had led to a few vacancies on our committees and agreed that representatives of county associations on our National Assembly should be invited to express an interest in joining pending our full elections later in the year. This demonstrates the importance of more people getting involved in the work of their county and national associations, so look out for opportunities. The board also received updates on our new website and CRM project and progress with reviewing our financial strategy and reserves policy following the sale of our former HQ building. The board was pleased that a productive meeting had been held recently with Society of Local Council Clerks colleagues. It also agreed to have a separate meeting to focus on several outstanding internal governance issues.

On the blog: Playing Out and WorkNest

This week’s blog is by Pete Davies, the chief executive officer at Playing Out, who writes about why play streets are vital for local councils. Play streets are a low-cost, high-impact community development offer that councils can support to create healthier, happier individuals and communities. The positive impact of play streets on children includes regular physical activity, the opportunity to make friends, and the chance to learn fun and useful skills. And last week’s blog by Danielle Scott from our partners, WorkNest, was about what to do if an employee is not meeting the required standards. First, you should identify if you are dealing with a disciplinary or performance management issue. Then you can take the appropriate approach to address the issue — do read the blog to determine the correct route.

Rural Insight Forum

The latest meeting of the Rural Insight Forum, which brings together a range of rural stakeholders, including NALC and convened by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), took place on 26 May 2023. Here’s a summary:

• Officials reported that the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee published a report of their inquiry into rural mental health. The report highlights how available data on rural mental health in England is incomplete, with gaps in health data, suppressed demand for services, and under-reporting of rural deprivation. Urgent government action is needed due to concerns like COVID-19, Brexit, economic impacts, isolation, and other pressures on mental well-being in rural areas and among farmers. The report’s ten recommendations are creating a new cross-government rural mental health policy and delivery team, reviewing the Index of Multiple Deprivation, and creating a new levelling mission on young people’s mental health and well-being and youth services. The government is required to respond to the report within two months.
  The Rural Services Network presented the findings of their recent rural household survey.
  Last year, the government appointed Baroness Sanderson of Welton to help develop a new public libraries strategy. Officials gave an update on progress, including several deep dive sessions, her visits and other conversations with the sector and its partners. I’m keen to ensure the provision of libraries by local councils is not overlooked and that your voice is heard in developing this strategy. So, if you’re involved in running or supporting a library, please contact us at policycomms@nalc.gov.uk. We will follow this up directly with you, and we are also exploring holding a round table to bring councils together with government officials.
  Members of the forum also shared their experiences of the Rural England Prosperity Fund, where one common theme was frustration over the inconsistency of delivery by principal councils with limited external stakeholder engagement and monitoring. I’d like to hear about how this fund is being delivered in your areas and, particularly, access to the fund for local councils. Again, please get in touch at policycomms@nalc.gov.uk.

Commons Levelling Up Committee report on funding

Last week, the Commons Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee published a report following its inquiry into local government funding. The report’s main finding was that the current policy aim of levelling up the country risks failure unless the government can provide the long-term substantive funding necessary to help local councils deliver economic growth for their communities. I was pleased to read that NALC’s evidence was referred to in the final report and that one of our pleas for less competitive bidding processes was supported in its recommendations.

Fortnightly meeting with county officers

In this week’s meeting between NALC and county officers, there was a presentation from NALC’s newest partner GoCollaborate. They demonstrated their tool for online consultations, engaging with communities, and responding to several questions. There was also an update from our head of policy and communications, Justin Griggs, on the work of NALC’s National Networks, including why they were set up, how they work, and the range of activities and issues they have been engaged with. Also, county officers discussed how they could evolve, identified potential other groups and how they have input into NALC’s work.

NALC National Network: Young councillors

Our next NALC National Network: Young councillors meeting is on 7 June 2023, which brings together younger councillors aged under 40 who are currently serving on a local council. The agenda for this online meeting includes a welcome to new members, a discussion on growing the network, our Star Council Awards 2023 and an open forum for councillors to learn from each other. Visit our website to learn more about our networks and how to join, and please encourage any young councillors you know to get involved.

Evolution of community councils in Scotland?

To mark 50 years since the creation of community councils in Scotland, a Select Committee of the Scottish parliament is looking at how they work, good practices, and making them more effective. So, I was pleased to see our colleague Jackie Weaver from the Cheshire Association of Local Councils among the panel of witnesses to give evidence to the committee on 23 May 2023. In her contributions, Jackie spoke about the strengths of the local council model and the differences to community councils, funding from the precept and other sources, the importance of support from representative bodies, effective community engagement and the challenge of getting more people involved. You can read the session in full in the Official Report.

And finally…

Last week we shared information about our survey on remote meetings. We are gathering information about local council meetings and the use of virtual meeting technology. This is a crucial survey that will help NALC campaign for legislative change to allow councils to use virtual meeting technologies for council meetings. I’m urging councillors and clerks to complete the form by 8 June 2023 — it should only take a few minutes, thank you!