Counseling the councils

摘要

We now have a fair idea of how dire things could eventually get following publication of the Government's Spending Review. But we all know that we won't reach such hardship. Why? Because councils won't allow it. Yes, many in local government have shouted about how funding for much relied upon but non-statutory services will dry up and how local authorities will simply exist to provide services such as caring for our most vulnerable and emptying our bins, but it's fallen on deaf ears. Time doesn't stand still, and thankfully, neither do councils. As I travel the length and breadth of Britain, working with council staff to find new, innovative and sometimes radical ways of keeping the country moving, I'm reminded of my time in South Africa. It was just after the South African general election of 1994, held to mark the end of apartheid and the scale of the country's problems was phenomenal.