How Localism Could Save Us Billions

It is possible to strengthen local democracy, save billions of pounds of public money, and still invest in front line services. Our local councils, police, schools and hospitals are all burdened by a costly regime of box ticking, form filling and inspections that has been imposed by this government.

Southampton City Council has just had its annual audit at a cost of £334,000. It is a useful report (and is broadly complimentary) but largely tells us what we already know and certainly doesn't represent value for money. That is only part of the cost though, as considerable resources in terms of staff time are spent preparing for these over zealous audits. The annual audit is just one example of a whole myriad of disproportionate and costly inspections imposed by government on councils up and down the country.

Huge amounts of time and money is spent by local authorities and other public bodies bidding for pots of government funding. Only a few are ever successful on each occasion, and money is wasted by those that do not succeed. Probably the best example is the debacle over college funding. Locally our colleges in Southampton and Hampshire spent millions bidding and preparing for promised rebuilds. In the end not a penny came to Hampshire. Across the country an estimated £200m was wasted on this alone.

Finally we have the large number of unelected, quasi-autonomous non governmental organisations or ‘quangos’. These extra layers of bureaucracy with their big budgets, shuffle bits of paper, produce endless reports, distort local priorities and have little or no accountability. Decisions should be taken by our schools, hospitals and elected local councils, not by faceless bureaucrats.

This regime of inspections, quangos and ring fenced pots of money with expensive bidding processes, costs the taxpayer billions of pounds every year. Surely now, when the public finances are tight, it is time to admit that Labour's top down, centrist approach has failed, and instead better to adopt a localist approach which empowers public services and saves us all a great deal of money.

Shadow Minister Backs Campaign for Council Tax Freeze

Shadow Local Government Minister, Bob Neil MP meets with local Conservatives

Shadow Minster Bob Neil MP paid a visit to Southampton today to meet with local councillors and council officers. Conservatives have pledged to freeze council tax for two years if we win the next election. Mr Neil explained how this would mean extra funding for Southampton from a Conservative Government to keep council tax down. Mr Neil explained that extra money would also be available for Southampton where new homes are built locally and where new businesses are created.

Time To Shift power To Local People And Rein In Whitehall bureaucrats

Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party for Cities, Tariq Ahmad, meets local Conservatives to talk about revitalising Britain's cities.

Local residents will have the power to instigate local referendums, will know more about how town hall money is spent and Southampton City Council will have more powers and funding under a new Conservative blueprint for local democracy.

I was delighted at the proposals to revive local democracy which were recently unveiled by David Cameron in a major policy document. The new policies include:

· Abolishing all regional planning and housing powers in the hands of regional government, returning powers and discretion back to local communities.
· Creating bottom-up incentives for house building, by allowing Southampton to benefit from the increase in council tax revenues from new homes.
· Giving a real incentive for councils to promote local economic growth, by allowing them to keep the uplift in business rate revenues from businesses growing in size.
· Granting Southampton City Council a new discretionary power to give discounts on business rates, allowing them to help local shops and services, such as rural pubs or post offices, or even create new local enterprise zones.
· Making greater use of direct democracy, including allowing Southampton residents to veto high council tax rises, or instigate a council-wide referendum on local issues if 5% of local residents give their backing.

These radical plans will put local people in the driving seat, and cut back interference and meddling by Whitehall bureaucrats. The next election won’t just be about whether to transfer power from Labour to Conservatives. It will also be about whether to transfer power from the central state to local people.