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Media Coverage
We’ve collected together news articles about what is happening right now with devolution. The Northern Powerhouse has primarily been defined in economic terms. For instance, the Northern Powerhouse “has Chinese backing”, with Chinese investing in Northern universities, an air route to Manchester and other goodies. Read on the BBC Sheffield to host a ‘Northern Powerhouse summit’ […]
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Introduction to the briefing papers
This introduction was designed for the Assembly South participants. Congratulations on becoming a member of Assembly South! Over the next few weeks, you will get to debate some very important issues to do with how the Hampshire and Isle of Wight area will be governed in the future. The results of your discussions will be closely […]
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NE devolution deal mustn’t be done behind closed doors
NE devolution deal mustn’t be done behind closed doors, say campaigners Electoral Reform Society says devolution plans could ‘flounder’ without real public involvement · Statement from the Electoral Reform Society · For immediate release – 19th October 2015, 14:30 Responding to the announcement that the government’s devolution plans for the North East have reached a […]
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How Is Local Government Funded?
This page sets out how local government is funded in England today. Sources of local government funding Local councils have four main sources of funding: Central government grants Business rates Council tax Fees and charges There are also a wide range of additional central government grants for local bodies which sit outside local council control. […]
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Citizen Participation in Local Governance
This page gives a quick overview of different ways that local councils could involve citizens more regularly in the decision making process. It offers introductions to petitions, referendums, participatory budgeting and citizens’ assemblies. One of the criticisms of the current process of establishing Devolution Deals is that there is no involvement of local people. It is a […]
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Promoting Prosperity and Well-Being
In this page: One of the government’s main reasons for devolving power to cities and regions is the desire to promote economic development across different parts of England. This is because it’s generally agreed that recent growth has been too concentrated in London and the South East. While economic prosperity is important, it is not […]
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Effective Services and Value for Money
In this page: One of the key criteria for judging whether to change how we are governed is whether doing so would improve public services. At the same time, most people do not want to pay more taxes. So thinking about efficient provision of services also matters. There are also important questions relating to how […]
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Democracy and Local Autonomy
In this page: This page considers the basic building blocks of democracy: representation and accountability. It also introduces the related idea of local autonomy. Our democratic system is primarily based on representation. In a representative democracy, voters do not make policy decisions themselves: they give that power to elected representatives. In this page, we introduce features […]
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Areas and Area Boundaries
In this page: What areas should our local councils or regional authorities cover? This page considers this question. It deals with the kinds of areas that local government structures can cover and the options for working out what the boundaries of these areas should be. It considers both traditional or identity-based boundaries, and boundaries based on […]
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Governance Structures: Who Exercises Power?
In this page: This page describes the different structures for decision-making in local government. Decision-making can involve ordinary citizens, elected politicians, and representatives of business, trade unions, and other groups. Structures within decisions can be made include traditional local councils, combined authorities (with and without mayors), regional assemblies, and direct democracy. These have varying implications for […]
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