Eric Pickles’ spring conference speech in full

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles used the Conservative spring conference yesterday to speak about some of his priorities for local government. In his speech, he drew an interesting parallel with a Private Members Bill brought forward by Margaret Thatcher more than 50 years ago, which opened up council meetings to the press, and his challenge to authorities to [...]

‘Town hall pravdas’ or keeping people informed?

The recent decision by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee to reject Eric Pickles‘ proposals to restrict the publication of council newspapers has reopened a debate on the role such publications should play. In one corner is the Government, which is strongly critical of councils spending public funds on ‘town hall pravdas’ that they see as little better than propaganda magazines. [...]

Pickles’ vision: how localism can make cities stronger

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has spoken today about how the principles underpinning his Localism Bill can help transform our cities. Speaking at The Economist’s Liveable Cities Conference, he outlined his belief that the bill’s key principle – handing power to local people - can be used to fuel economic growth in our metropolitan areas. Until now, most things I have [...]

Busy Christmas break for communities department

Ministers at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) today revealed what their teams had been up to during the Christmas break. Secretary of State Eric Pickles‘ written statement to Parliament outlined his department’s recent undertakings, which included a new initiative to help local communities revitalise disused pubs and social clubs, taking action to make local government more transparent and launching plans to support people to build [...]

Localism needs local comms to thrive

There are many things those of us who live outside London should welcome about the Localism Bill, published today by the Government. Who could argue with moves to involve people more closely in running their communities, reduce red tape and devolve power (and responsibility) to grass-roots level? There were two things about today’s announcement that struck me in particular. 1. There [...]