By Colin Borland
Local authorities really do suffer from a lack of public respect. Bereft of premium channels, we call terrestrial TV “council telly”. Comedians ask hecklers, “Who cuts your hair? The council?” We moan about paying council tax, “just to get my bins emptied and to fund council workers’ tea breaks”.
This is a pity. As many councils set their annual budgets last week, the debates which raged in town buildings and city chambers underlined just how passionate (most of) those involved in local government are about their communities.
Now that the official starting gun for May’s council elections has been fired, though, maybe it’s time we took slightly more interest in what they’re planning to do on our behalf – especially if you’re in business.
Vital as they are, councils are about more than roads, bins and the state of the town centre. Local government is responsible for half of Scotland’s £9bn public procurement spend. Rather than aggregating contracts simply to cut costs in the short term, councils could put their buying power at the heart of economic development; purchasing where possible from those suppliers who are of greatest importance to the local economy.
And councils don’t just deliver services and buy goods, they are also one of local businesses’ most significant regulators. Rules around selling alcohol, street trading, window cleaners, late-night catering, public entertainment, planning, building standards and more are all shaped, implemented and enforced by local authorities.
There is every sign that local authorities will remain under pressure to manage reductions in public spending. To have any hope of getting out of this situation, they have at the same time to make it easier for their local businesses to lead economic recovery. Clearly, things cannot continue as before, but there is no reason why these two objectives should be mutually exclusive.
Processes can be streamlined so that, where possible, common functions are designed and administered across councils, rather than individually. This would put an end to the nonsense of different local authorities demanding different forms be filled in with different levels of detail for effectively the same purpose.
Such efficiencies could save cash and make life easier for businesses baffled by widely varying interpretations of the same regulations. But, on its own, this is not enough. Council functions themselves need to be better focused on the core objective of building the local economy. Services and strategies need to be aligned, so that, for example, inspection schedules coincide and building control doesn’t demand you make an alteration which planning won’t let you do.
None of this will be easy and I admire those now taking the tough decisions. Perhaps by showing us all what it can really do, Scottish local government is finally about to win the respect it deserves.
– Colin Borland is head of external affairs for the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland
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