Kate McCauley’s Post

OPINION: It's Not The A-B-C's, but it's the H-I-J's "At the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) conference in Brandon, Manitoba, 600 municipal leaders from across the province convened to deliberate on the issues that weigh heavily on their communities. A prevailing theme emerged among the delegates: healthcare access, infrastructure deficits, and justice reforms stand as paramount concerns. The spotlight for these municipal leaders turns to the new Kinew government, with municipalities seeking collaborative efforts to tackle these critical areas." #Municipal #Municipalities

Alexander Fink has summarized the key takeaways from the Lords parliamentary review below. Lord Moylan, (Daniel Moylan) we believe, did an excellent job summarizing the key problems of delivering MMC and understanding the key challenges to date. He has criticized the governments approach to date of not properly analyzing the metrics of their implemented policies and recognizes the challenges the industry faces. He writes that “We have limited confidence that a coherent plan to encourage the use of MMC is in place and, owing to the absence of its publication, have found it challenging to scrutinize the Government’s activity and spending. Given its own admittance that MMC is a central requirement to deliver on the Government’s housing ambitions, and the amount of money it is investing in this sector, this position is very disappointing.” Key Recommendations by Lord Moylan include reforms to data publication, efficient use of funds, reallocation of support, making products more easily insurable, soft levers like the FHS to drive the shift to more sustainable development. Etopia think that all these suggestions are very sensible and are very needed to make MMC housing a success in the UK. https://lnkd.in/esN-D9iP

A summary of the policy work our Common Weal do, directed into the in-tray of each Minister in the new Cabinet. https://lnkd.in/er8j42ja

Most read HealthCare Policy article of 2023! A healthy healthcare system requires a healthy homecare sector. The value of investing in the community is clear.

It's great to see local government minister Jim McMahon hint of a stronger role for districts in combined authorities. He did this yesterday at the Local Government Association councillor forum. We’re hugely enthusiastic about working even more closely and productively with our county and unitary partners to support our places. Our uniquely localised expertise and our unrivalled ability to build relationships with business and communities in each of our cities, towns and villages can make a huge difference towards us meeting our shared goals. Together we can: 👯 Create jobs, 🏚 Increase housebuilding ⬆ Grow our economies ⚖ Lessen Inequality 😀 Increase wellbeing https://lnkd.in/egDNnJxN

"It is increasingly urgent to recognise the complex structural situation now facing the sector, beyond the headlines of some individual councils going bankrupt." NEW ✏ : How Local Authorities Are Thinking Differently Under Unprecedented Financial Pressures Together with IPPO, we convened senior local government officers to delve into how councils are navigating unprecedented financial pressures. We heard about acute shared challenges: 🌀 Inadequate short-term funding cycles 📈 Rising demand for services 💱 Broken markets driving up costs 🚦 Lack of a shared understanding of prevention And pragmatic & imaginative responses: 💸 Leveraging financial power to create social and community value 📥 Shifting from mass outsourcing to insourcing 🏘️ Adopting hyperlocal neighborhood models 🔗 Taking a whole-system approach by integrating data and insights #LocalGovernment #PublicSector #Innovation #CommunityResilience #Policy 📚 Read the full article here: How Local Authorities Are Thinking Differently Under Unprecedented Financial Pressures https://lnkd.in/gGkyDkEC 👀 Stay tuned for detailed case studies, practical guides, and policy recommendations coming this Autumn. 🖋️ Urte Macikene, Kezia Pugh & Jessica Studdert

#holymoly the The Labour Party #Government have sprung into action. I’d like to do #somethingalittledifferent (#differentonpurpose - Knights). There’s already a lot of great summary work out there - you don’t need to see me #copypaste it in a different tone. To save you the job of hunting them all out Zack Simons has linked most of the material together in one helpful place https://lnkd.in/ecRxjBzp. Let’s chat about what could be? Whilst there’s a lot of positivity in the early stages, is this just just tinkering around the edges again? Is that simply a necessity as there is so much to simply undo from the last few years with more to follow or are we stuck in a political trap in #planning of not thinking a little bit bigger? 1. Buried in the letter to local authority letters in England (foreshadowed by the King’s Speech) is a pledge #modernise #planning #committees by introducing a national scheme of delegation. An excellent idea - some of the busiest planning committees I’ve worked with have been streamlined by revisiting the scheme of delegation and sticking to it but if we’re going to modernise committees shouldn’t we revisit the one of the best products of the pandemic - an element of hybrid / e-committee. Maybe we shouldn’t move the whole committee online - committees should be seen but with many LPA’s streaming their committees anyway how much of the supporting information/debate/speakers for/against can be moved online in a full hybrid system. That presupposes that we need to keep planning committees anyway! One of the best suggestions #IMHO of the last #planningbill was the idea that the democractic hit in the planning system should be once only - a simple local plan could be introduced which is enacted by the Councils officers. There is a myth around planning (badly explained to me by more than one local councillor in recent months) that it is a democratic system. Whilst there is a level of democracy in the system is it right that an allocated site goes back to a committee at outline stage and potentially again at reserved matters giving some committees 3 bites of the cherry and opportunities to say no? Is it time to get rid of to planning committee completely? What if the #nationalschemeofdelegation referred exlplicitly to a Local Plan Committee with some limited powers of exception/unallocated sites? Think out loud with me? Any views Louise Thorne Ollie Clawson Haroon Khan Laura Swindells *more to follow - I realise I can only have one thought at a time on the train in to the office (but tomorrows train is 3 hours not 20 minutes).

Less than a week to go 🤗 Will share the pre-read and output on here 🤓 Great to have Edel Harris OBE and Paul Smith co-chairing, and a great list of organisations represented. The agenda and discussion will be attendee-led, but I expect we'll cover some (if not all) of the following: ✅ Creating the local conditions to increase the supply, range and choice of specialist and supported housing ✅ Place-based approaches to maximising local resources ✅ Planning for the forthcoming Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act ✅ How we keep supported and specialist housing on the local agenda, and continue to make the case for investment ✅ The value of dedicated strategies and up-to-date data on needs and supply ✅ Innovative and good practice examples Can't wait! Simon Morioka Andy Ryan Elim Housing Association Bristol City Council BCP Council NHS Gloucestershire National Housing Federation PPL The Brandon Trust Golden Lane Housing Curo Places for People HomeMade

The recent announcement by the NSW Government regarding council de-amalgamations has sparked significant concern across local communities and government officials alike. As Local Government NSW (LGNSW) highlights in the article below, the lack of state funding for these de-amalgamations places an immense financial burden on councils, threatening the feasibility of reversing the controversial amalgamations initiated in 2016. LGNSW President Darriea Turley AM rightly points out the irony of the state governments approach. On the one hand, it appears supportive by allowing de-amalgamations; on the other, it ensures their improbability by withholding necessary funds. This move leaves councils and, by extension, local communities, in a no-win position, bearing the cost of potentially undoing decisions they never supported. This situation raises several critical questions for professionals in government, local governance, and community planning sectors: - How can councils navigate these financial and administrative challenges? - What does this mean for the principle of local self-determination? - Is there a middle ground that respects community desires without imposing unsustainable financial burdens? I invite your thoughts and insights on this complex issue. How do you see the future of local governance and community representation evolving? #LocalGovernment #CommunityPlanning #Governance #PublicPolicy #NSW #StrategicDirections

Insightful session hosted by London CLT, featuring insightful speakers and workshops on best practice in Community Land Trust Housing. The eye-opener was how public authorities are complicit in running down areas through underinvestment, as so to make it more variable for private investors to come in (*sides eye NHS*), a practise studied by Abi O'Connor from New Economics Foundation And an impromptu and honest discussion about who gets to be involved in these developments with Jawad Anjum. The contents of which shall remain between us... for the time being lol.