Neighbourhood governance: a chance to break the all-pervasive culture of centralisation

This blog is part of a series written by organisations championing community power. As new neighbourhood governance arrangements are introduced across England through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, each blog explores how neighbourhood governance can enable local people to have real influence over their places. The series accompanies A Blueprint for Community-Powered Neighbourhood Governance, written by We’re Right Here, with input from Local Trust, Hope Not Hate, Locality, and Power to Change.

Unlock Democracy exists to create a vibrant, inclusive democracy that puts power in the hands of the people. Key to that vision is power being exercised as close as practicable to local communities. 

With this in mind, we were really excited to see the focus the Government was putting on devolution. Research has shown that we live in one of the most centralised countries in the world – for several decades, successive governments have systematically moved more and more power away from local communities into Whitehall or other bodies. And it’s clear to almost everyone that running just about everything from the centre isn’t working.  

This has contributed to trust in the political system sinking to record lows. People rightly feel disconnected and ignored when important decisions are taken in Whitehall that affect the communities they live in. They know Whitehall rarely knows best when it comes to their local area. 

Labour set out some bold aims on devolution and returning power to local communities, but as every month has gone by, we’ve become more worried.  

Firstly, the Government has decided to prioritise English local government reorganisation over its devolution plans. This will see dozens of smaller local councils abolished, and the creation of new mega-authorities of more than half a million people. It’s the opposite of devolution – using Surrey as an example, 11 district councils will be replaced by just 2 unitary councils. It’s centralisation on steroids. 

Secondly, whilst the now delayed devolution plans put forward by the Government do involve significant powers shifting from Whitehall to elected Mayors, each of these new ‘local’ Mayors is expected to be covering a population of 1.5 million people or more. Furthermore, those Mayors are expected to take some powers from local councils – moving decision-making even further away from local communities. Yet more centralisation on steroids. 

It’s clear that a decades-long culture of ‘Whitehall knows best’ and fundamentally not trusting local communities to take their own decisions is not going to disappear without a fight.  

There is however a possible chink of light in the Government’s plans when it comes to community governance. But it’s only going to make a difference if we can persuade Ministers to flesh out their plans beyond a vague reference to ‘neighbourhood governance’ in the legislation.  

They need to define what they mean by ‘neighbourhood’. In some areas, we’ve seen the word ‘neighbourhood’ used to mean entire towns or even a cluster of towns and villages. That’s not how most people would think about a neighbourhood. 

Then they need to set out options for what this governance could look like, especially its powers and ability to raise funds. Without this, it will be too easy for Councils to undertake a tickbox exercise where something is set up, but with little power and no funding.  

The We’re Right Here and Local Trust’s ‘Six principles for community-powered neighbourhood governance’ set out in ‘A Blueprint to Community-Powered Neighbourhood Governance’ are an excellent place to start.  

While the Government looks like it’s falling into the all-pervasive centralising culture that’s dominated decision-making in this country for too long, it’s not too late to change that.  

The starting point must be that the status quo isn’t working. Central and local governments, Ministers, Councillors, Mayors need to reconnect with local communities and develop new ways of working that can deliver the kind of society we all want.  

Neighbourhood governance would be a great way to get that started. 

Read A Blueprint for Community-Powered Neighbourhood Governance.