very good thread. In my brief time working in Westminster I encountered, generally, two views of local gov 1) It's boring and doesn't matter (more an implicit view ofc) 2) It matters a lot because (patronising tone indicating speaker's superiority) actually potholes matter a lot to the little people
I now work in local gov, and have done for just under 3 years. Right now people on my team are working on huge policy challenges including: -Youth homelessness -Food waste -Future of the welfare state -Planning reform -Primary prevention for people not known to social care etc etc etc
Local gov is part or whole of the public sector side of delivery for most big policy issues you care about. Bins and potholes matter but that's not the primary importance of local gov in either practical or electoral terms.
I think this is a great point to make. The narrative seems too set in in the UK about "councils don't have enough money to do anything except social care" - even if true, social care is HUGE. But as you point out, that is far from the whole story of local govt.
Well also even where they don't have enough money to do other things, that's often why a national policy runs into trouble. Net Zero is a good example
The preventative focus in the NHS will be another. Barely any serious primary prevention work rests with the NHS, and yet... no funding for it!
I noticed when I moved to Finland that every party in the local election in my city had a manifesto commitment on mould. Because people know that mould in schools or public places is bad for health. And they expect the city (city-region council) to sort it out. Weirdly healthy, politically!
Why we treat local gov less seriously than European counterparts is a question that's above my pay grade but it's very interesting. I mean, fewer powers is obvi part of the answer but that just pushes the q back. Councils used to have more powers and we took them away bit by bit.
Have I *also* worked on, e.g., parking issues? Proud to say I have. But there's quite a lot more going on.