Pickles was a Winner

As 2013 draws to a close, it falls to me to look at the years’ winners and losers. The winners include Eric Pickles who can announce that by following his excellent advice, councils have managed to make large cuts in their expenditure, and found that 84% of the public say they regard their services as the same or better than last year. They also include park keepers, who have seen a rise in public satisfaction, while cutting spend by £75m. People in charge of recycling deserve praise too – 48% say it has improved in the last five years. Others include the members and chief executives, and, above all, the staff who are carrying on delivering. They have kept the show on the road, in spite of some occasional provocation from on high, and hundreds of thousands of redundancies. Job security has fallen massively since 2010, but focus and motivation have risen. Losers include the elderly and their carers – more say services have got worse rather than better and some estimates are that 500,000 people who would have been eligible for help no longer receive it, as rationing takes hold. But drivers are the angriest: dissatisfaction with potholes and road maintenance has hit record highs. In surface area they would now cover the Isle of Wight if put together. In a few counties we know 80% or more of residents who are not happy and, in some cases, Eric-busting referenda are being considered. Overall, local government was a winner in 2013 – it managed to maintain services used by most people and the majority of the public didn’t notice it paddling frantically under the surface. 2014 may be alright too – the problems come in 2015-16 onwards - according to most chief executives I have talked to recently - when the choices get really difficult.

 

This article was originally published in The Municipal Journal, 19 December 2013