Archive for Local government
Second Adur Conservative councillor switches to Liberal Democrats
From Gav’s View:
The ruling Conservatives in Adur have been rocked by a second defection in a fortnight, as Southlands Councillor Carl English has followed colleague Gavin Ayling in choosing to cross the floor to the Liberal Democrats
“Since my election in 2006, I have found it increasingly difficult to defend Tory policies, locally or nationally,” said Councillor [...]
Spelman drops Conservative pledges to abolish RDAs
So, what is the Conservative Party policy on Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)?
Well, here is Iain Dale on the matter in February:
Cameron Reinforces Pledge to Abolish RDA’s & Assemblies
David Cameron has given an interview to BBC South East, to be shown at lunchtime tomorrow in which he pledges to abolish Regional Development Agencies. Good. There had [...]
Adding some colour to council emails
The November edition of Total Politics has the second in a series from me on councils and communicating. The first part, Yes, council websites can, looked at lessons from the Obama campaign for local council use of the internet. This piece now looks at email in more detail.
In October’s Total Politics I wrote about the [...]
Are local council boundaries set to change?
That’s what the Electoral Commission is suggesting in its ‘farewell’ press release to mark the handing over of responsibilities for local government boundaries to a new body:
Max Caller, Chair of the Boundary Committee and Electoral Commissioner, said: “The new Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s job will be to keep the map of local government [...]
Haringey ‘gagged’ council chief with six-figure payoff
The Evening Standard reports:
Haringey council was facing fresh criticism today over a secret six-figure payoff it made to one of its senior officials.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was allegedly given the payment to stop an embarrassing “revelation” about Labour councillor Charles Adje becoming public at an employment tribunal.
The council is facing [...]
SEO for non-experts: what you need to know
Cross-posted from Dave Press, where I did a guest slot last week: Why do so many councils have such a poor online presence? I’ve written before about some of the missed opportunities, such as here, but for me the puzzle is as much “what should a council do?” as “why don’t more of them do [...]
Conservative Bedford woes
Fresh from losing the Mayor election in Bedford to Dave Hodgson comes this news of further Conservative problems, via the BBC:
The leader of the Conservative group on Bedford Borough Council has been suspended from the party for two years.
The Tory Party said the action against Nicky Attenborough was taken because of comments she made about [...]
The local government communications problem
While public satisfaction with councils is falling in most local authorities, public satisfaction with council services is actually rising. (Source: July/August edition of Public Relations) That poses a tricky problem, especially for those on the elected side of local government – given that elections are for councillors and parties for the council rather than for specific [...]
Yes, council websites can
The October edition of Total Politics has a piece from me on how local authorities can learn from the Obama campaign’s mastery of the internet to build communities of active and engaged residents. You can read it over on my blog.
The basic theme – too many councils are trapped in the idea that a good online [...]
Richmond Council pioneers green parking charges
Sky News reports:
A local authority in London has become the first in the world to charge motorists for parking on the basis of how “green” their vehicle is.
Richmond upon Thames is to charge drivers varying prices based on the carbon dioxide emissions of their vehicle of choice.
The system works for drivers who use the RingGo [...]
