Will local government minister Eric Pickles have an ally or a new adversary in Sir Merrick Cockell, incoming leader of the Local Government Association?
Eric Pickles, the belligerent secretary of state for communities and local government, could have a reason for being cheerful this week. After a year of clashes between the Tory-led body representing larger English councils and Pickles's department, a new figure has emerged as the voice of town halls.
Sir Merrick Cockell, the next chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA), should tick most of the right boxes for the minister. As leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, an extremely prosperous borough with pockets of deprivation, he can claim the country's third lowest council tax. He wants to devolve power from the town hall down to communities. And he is in the throes of merging essential services with neighbouring Hammersmith & Fulham, and Westminster ? handing Pickles valuable ammunition to fire at less adventurous and seemingly laggardly councils elsewhere.
In his LGA leadership campaign, Cockell promised to "dominate the media with Conservative voices in local government" ? a dig at the outgoing Lady [Margaret] Eaton, whose consensual style apparently irritated the minister.
While the LGA, under the amiable Eaton, came close to accusing the government this month of double standards, by loading councils with an extra �68m costs in "stealth centralism [to] jump through Whitehall's bureaucratic hoops", Cockell seemed to be playing the party line with campaign pledges to "show local Conservatives are making the right choices for the country and local government".
Welcoming his election ? Cockell made his inaugural speech at this week's LGA annual conference in Birmingham ? the ConservativeHome website noted that "his arrival should herald a more constructive relationship with Eric Pickles".
Maybe. Cockell, a councillor since 1986, certainly has his work cut out. Satisfaction with the organisation does not seem to be high. Its voice has rarely been heard over the past few months.
Not surprisingly, Cockell wants a more "confident and assertive" LGA, making it more accountable to its membership, while pledging to be demanding of government when necessary. One fellow Tory council leader from the south-east, predicts that Cockell will be strong and robust where necessary, with the diplomatic skills to negotiate with Pickles on equal terms.
Another Conservative leader, still angry about the scale of cuts inflicted on his authority and the compliance of Tory MPs , thinks Cockell will be no soft touch.
His skills are sorely needed, with many loyal Tories unhappy with Pickles for failing to stand up for local government in a spending round that saw swingeing cuts in Whitehall's crucial town hall grant frontloaded to this financial year.
Up to now, Pickles has been in attack mode, trashing local government rather than defending it. He has had a field day, with little or no oppositiion.
Cockell's election to a beleaguered LGA will signal big changes to an organisation seen by detractors as moribund and urgently in need of shaking up.
While the battle over the current spending round is fast becoming history, other issues should be high on the LGA agenda. Which brings us to "localism", and the clear frustration of councillors from all parties over the government's disjointed messages ? underlined by the Commons' communities and local government committee earlier this month.
It complained that a range of ministers had implemented policies from policing to NHS reform and education, that bypass, rather than empower local government. And "guided localism" ? an ultimate contradiction ? seem to have become Pickles' watchwords. As the committee concluded: "The test for delivering a more localist political culture will be how ministers react to devolved decisions they dislike."
We could have guessed Pickles's reaction. Will it now become more measured?
? Peter Hetherington writes on communities and regeneration
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2011/jun/28/localism-stronger-voice-merrick-cockell
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