Grenfell one year on

June 15, 2018

I visited the construction site on June 13, the eve of the memorial events.  It was quiet with just a few visitors and one or two press photographers and a radio interview with someone who might have been a neighbour or survivor.  Very moving still with the used candles and children’s teddy bears and the names of those who died along the street railings on green cards.

Every authority and emergency service will have drawn conclusions from that terrible event.  How would you respond to a catastrophe, fire, flooding, major accident involving many residents. What temporary accommodation could you call on at no or very short notice.  Who would take the lead and coordinate the response, who would look after the victims, who would deal with the media. It is clear that RBKC did not have a suitable emergency response system in place.

Scrutiny failures at Northampton

March 22, 2018

LGC. The inspection report on the financial problems of the county includes a number of references that suggest inadequacy on the part of the scrutiny process.

For example the inspection team noted the number of councillors who ‘were refused information when they sought to ask officers questions’, eg in relation to the sale of the county’s £53 million headquarters.

The report also says from 2013 the county had ‘lost tight budgetary control and appeared to  abandon strong and effective budget setting scrutiny’.

The former interim group director of finance admitted there could have been ‘greater transparency and communication on the budget process’  and that the scrutiny function could have been ‘strengthened.’

Concept of land banking contested

March 8, 2018

LGC  Planning director of Home Builders Federation takes issue with criticisms of land banking by developers. The 400,000 plots developers  are  alleged to be sitting on are  on sites already under construction or not yet implementable because of conditions attaching to the permission.  Once an application is implementable, the writer claims,  a builder will not sit on it.

He goes on to say that in any event 400,000 plots would not be enough for building 300,000 homes a year, the Federation’s target, and falls short of the five year land supply local authorities are required to identify.

As to brownfield sites, which account for the majority of housing developments,  they often have additional costs not associated with greenfield sites such as demolition and decontamination.  And although some services can be re-used they are often old and  need replacing.

Department response to Select Committee

March 5, 2018

The Housing, Communities and Local Government Department in its response to the recommendations of the Select Committee report of December 15, 2017,  accepted some,  rejected others, deferred a response on still others. Updated guidance will be issued later in the year.

One of the recommendations that could benefit the standing and the perception of independence of  O&S in the authority is that the committee should formally report to Full Council.  At present it is not clear to whom it should report. By default it is to the Executive.

Two other responses to note: one was more consideration for  councillors having access to sensitive information without it being automatically denied them as a default (see the restricted access factor at Northampton).

The other was support for the increased involvement of the public and service users in the scrutiny process which  will  help ground the committee in the needs of residents.

Select Committee publish report

December 15, 2017

CLG Select Committee publishes its report into the effectiveness of Overview and Scrutiny.  See summary