On behalf of its membership, the cross-party LGA regularly submits to Government
consultations, briefs parliamentarians and responds to a wide range of parliamentary inquiries. Our recent
responses to government consultations and parliamentary briefings can be found here.
While the Local Government Association welcomes an overall increase in baseline funding for local authorities, we express concern that a significant proportion of the increase in core spending power for 2023/24 has been achieved through a combination of potentially one-off grants, ring-fenced funding, re-allocation of existing funding, and the assumption that local authorities will implement council tax increases. We continue to make the case for multi-year settlements and for more long-term certainty around funding and budgets.
The evidence of the financial strain on councils has been growing. The settlement does not provide enough funding to meet the severe cost and demand pressures which have left councils of all political colours and types warning of the serious challenges they face to set balanced budgets next year. Councils in England continue to face a funding gap of £4 billion across this year and next. The 2024/25 provisional settlement does not change the funding gap facing councils.
Councils need a developer contribution system that is transparent, efficient and effective in bringing forward the affordable housing and funding for the strategic and local infrastructure communities need.
Local government as democratically elected leaders of place, also play a key role in stimulating local economies and want to ensure that employers have a supply of skilled workforce to meet the current and future business demands in local areas.
The LGA welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the independent review of building regulations and fire safety. Councils across the country are clear that no one should have to live in fear about their safety, be that in the buildings they live in, work in or visit.
Rather than responding to every question in the consultation, our response focuses primarily on concerns about the potential impact of the tax on affordable housing delivery and where the proposed ‘collection agent’ role should sit.
Overall, the LGA welcomes this best practice guidance. It provides helpful clarity on some complex issues in taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) licensing and will be a useful resource for both licensing authorities and the taxi and PHV trade.
Any new requirements arising from implementation of the new Act and outlined in the guidance will be new burdens for councils and will need to be funded accordingly. This could include training costs.