Whitehall will send someone in to make huge cuts across services and staff.
the old LRB article that is sill worth a read
in northamptonshire local elections were suspended for I think one year, possibly 2, and split into two unitary authorities. It could just be me but I think the way one authority contains the poorest bits and the other the wealthier areas seems a deliberate choice. But then its not that geographically simple because you've got the wealthy villages and that all over so I'm not sure.
I don't think there is anything in the legislation that would prevent that, there would have to be a process and validation locally and signed off somewhere within the government. Some councils merged or formed partnerships ie one council running children's services across two councils, another overseeing capital works in another, in the Cameron /Lib Dem era.
Gets sold cheap and rebranded.
THis is the only book ive seen on this topic
Who Stole the Town Hall?
Who Stole the Town Hall? - The End of Local Government as We Know It; Arguing that the UK Government intends to privatise all local services through its devolution agenda, Peter Latham proposes a new basis for federal, regional and local democracy, including land value taxation and a wealth tax.policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk
In this provocative new book, Peter Latham argues that the UK Conservative Government’s devolution agenda conceals their real intention: to complete the privatisation of local government and other public services.
Using illustrative examples from across the UK, including the so-called ‘Northern Powerhouse’ and the Midlands, the book explains the far-reaching implications of the reorganisation of local government that is already affecting vital public services, including education, health, housing and policing.
Proposing an overhaul of the taxation system to include land value taxation, a wealth tax and more progressive income tax to fund an increase in directly provided services, the author argues that a new basis for federal, regional and local democracy is vital.
i dont doubt you on that
I really think most councils have done this already to a large extent. Partly to make money, but also to try to get housing built under pressure to meet targets. I had a look at my local authority's asset register recently, and it's mostly tiny pockets of unusable land other than parks and nature reserves.
Yes many council are asset lite now . There was a brief trend for a few councils ( Stockport did it but I am sure we copied a council in the South) to use reserves to buy land and then sell to developers at a profit or for them to finance developments .
I just don't buy this at this stage of austerity. Every canny council has already sold off and sweated its assets as much as possible. I think its just total indifference by a government that lives in nice places with a high council tax base that just makes an automatic assumption that local authorities are inefficient flabby beasts when lots have lost like 60% of funding since 2010. I don't think they have a plan, other than they will use these crises to run loads of councils directly from Whitehall and run down local democracy. It's genuinely mystifying / contradictory, given that this government has devolved powers in many places, and many of the bankrupt councils are Tory.
if they can't sell them to OCP ...
There appears to be quite a big market in councils lending money to each other short-term. Mainly it seems to be because it's seen as a relatively safe place to put your reserves, and the borrowing council can generally get the loan at a cheaper rate than the main alternative (public works lending board). Can't see that there's anything that wrong with it in principle, it's like mates helping each other out.
I gey the concept but cornwall has been reducing every single year. Cut 9% of salary after years of cuts, including me. Worked with various councils and all seem to need to cut everything to fuck then increase council tax to cover ASC. Then people whinge about bins. Not sure what happens with the money now Thurrock are fucked tho.
Near Basildon, if Billy Bragg is to be believed.
That up London somewhere? I've only heard about it in derogatory joke's.
I only know that you get there if you “go motoring on the A13”.
Google says its a huge car park and a song by Billy Bragg?
