Looking after baby

摘要

'Only ever rebrand in weakness -and don't forfeit core customers.' That's a well-known venture capitalist's advice. And it leaps to mind when reading references to the 'new LGA' and 'LGA Group' in the LGA Group Development Strategy, which asserts 'existing brands will still be maintained and used where they add value for customers'. I'm adding to the family argument which Robert Hill sparked in his article 'Sorting out the local government family argument' (The MJ, 21 August), on how the strategy is actually implemented. He rightly warned how the current operational freedoms and accountability of the Leadership Centre could be sacrificed by the new programme board. Councils will suffer even greater losses if the IDeA's distinctive voice becomes muted, and live practical experience becomes distanced through greater centralisation in LGA policy-making. Making what the strategy calls 'independence with interdependence' happen for the IDeA requires particular subtlety. Keeping the baby in the bathwater could prove tougher than the document's simple assurances about form and function.