Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, Deputy Leader of the Local Government Association Conservative Group and the Leader of Breckland Council
The LGA’s position as a cross-party organisation which represents 338 of the 339 councils in England and Wales gives it the authority and credibility to speak on the big issues that affect local government.
On issues such as the funding of adult social care and Special Educational Needs provision, there is a genuine cross-party consensus within the LGA as they affect councils across the country regardless of political control.
As such, the LGA has long-standing lobbying positions on these issues and during the coalition and Conservative governments, and now under this Labour government, we have, for example, consistently argued for both more funding and for fundamental reforms to systems. As such, we have welcomed progress when it has occurred while also expressing our frustration when we have felt that government, of whatever colour, has fallen short of delivering what our councils and the communities they serve need.
On other issues where we have agreed cross-party positions, it has often been more uncomfortable for the group whose party is in power nationally to support them, but they do so because they recognise that it is the right thing to do in the interests of local government as a whole.
An obvious example of this is planning reform, as earlier this year the LGA, which is Labour-led, responded to the proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and other changes to the planning system. In doing so, our agreed response emphasised significant concerns about, amongst other things, the proposed national scheme of delegation and its implications for planning committees. We believe that the involvement of elected councillors in planning decisions is the backbone of the English planning system and that it is essential that councils retain the ability to tailor decision-making processes to reflect the specific needs of their communities.
Similarly, in 2022, when the LGA was Conservative-led, we opposed the proposals by the Conservative Government to introduce top-down algorithms and formulas into the planning process as we were also clear that councils and planning communities are best placed to decide how to build the right homes in the right places in their areas.
However, the above does not of course mean that there is always consensus, and the formation of a Reform Group last year, and of a Green Group this year, means that the LGA has gone from having four groups – Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent – in its first 28 years of existence to six groups in the last couple of years.
These changes reflect the new electoral map of local government and the wider fragmentation of politics, but it also of course means that it is even more important than ever that there is a strong and distinctive Conservative voice within the LGA.
A good example of this is the Overnight Visitor Levy Bill, which proposes to give Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the Mayor of London the power to introduce a local ‘tourist tax’ on overnight stays. The specifics of this proposal have been discussed extensively at LGA meetings over the past year and the Conservative Group was the only one to vote against it, with us consistently arguing that it will penalise hard-working people while also harming a hospitality sector which is already suffering from the impact of the Labour Government’s employer National Insurance increase.
Similarly, we were the only group to refuse to clear the LGA’s response to the MHCLG consultation on New Towns. Reflecting the concerns of Conservative councils who are affected by proposals for New Towns in their areas, we refused to support the response due to concerns about the limited engagement with local communities affected by the proposed New Towns; the implications for the Green Belt arising from the scale and location of the proposed New Towns; and concerns that the plans do not guarantee the necessary upfront infrastructure to support the new developments.
Finally, following lobbying from the Conservative members of the LGA’s Health and Wellbeing Committee, the LGA has expressed its strong concerns about the proposals in the NHS Modernisation Bill to disband Healthwatch (the independent national consumer champion for health and social care services in England) and allow health and social care services to gather and respond to feedback rather than being challenged by an independent voice. This proposal risks organisations being seen to mark their own homework while also creating confusion and frustration for people who, if drawing on both health and care, will need to approach two different parts of the system to share their views.
As part of its lobbying around the Bill, the LGA is therefore calling on the Government to pause this proposal and work with local government and partners to develop a clear and workable model for patients and that maintains independence, joins up insight across health and social care, and delivers meaningful accountability.
It is also worth noting that the weekly ‘Blue Team’ meetings, which take place between senior councillors such as myself and the Shadow MHCLG Ministerial Team when Parliament is sitting, and which are hosted by us at the LGA, allow us to discuss our policy lines with James Cleverly and his team and ensure that we are working in partnership with them and speaking with one voice as one Conservative Local Government Family.
The above examples illustrate just some of the ways in which the LGA lobbies on behalf of local government and how the Conservative group actively influences this work.
While we often do agree cross-party lines because they reflect the issues that are important to our member councils and the communities that they serve, Conservative Home readers can be assured that we will never hesitate to oppose positions which are antithetical to Conservative values and that the views and interests of Conservative councils and councillors are central to everything we do.