The third of the Viewpoint series of events focussed on new rights being given to communities, local government staff and individual members of the public through the Localism Bill. The rights to challenge, buy and build are all new and different ways of thinking about how services will be delivered in the future. Paddy May, the councils strategy manager gave an overview on these new rights that are contained in the Localism Bill that has now received royal assent. Paddy mentioned that the changes such as the right to challenge are not about functions but rather about the services local councils provide. So accountability for planning applications, for example, will not be taken away from elected councillors as this is a vital function of local councils. This new right is about someone offering to provide an existing service in a better way.
James Sandy outlined some of the problems and gaps that these changes may face in Portsmouth. He pointed to the difficulty of identifying 'communities' both in location and inclusiveness and also highlighted the pressure on workers' time who may want to research and get involved in these opportunities but can’t because of their availability.
Questions that arose from the groups discussions included; - Where do the accountability lines rest with new devolved services?
- Who will monitor and maintain standards?
- Who/what are the likely suspects of potential changes in the city/
- What happens if large companies come in and beat off all competition to run these services?
The next Viewpoint event will be held on the 14th December in the View cafe. All are welcome to attend, just register here.
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