Sean McPeake, President, Northern Ireland Local Government Association John McGrillen, Chairman, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives

1. A Manifesto for
Strong, Effective
Local Government
Building Dynamic Communities
Providing Modern Public Services
Imagine a Northern Ireland full of vibrant and cohesive local communities, where all citizens
have opportunities for an excellent quality of life. A place where localities are shaped by the
people who live within them. Where people know that their views can make a difference to the
way services are provided and how the decisions that impact upon them are made. Imagine,
cleaner, greener, safer neighbourhoods with services provided locally, where there is one
place to go if you have a problem, a question, or want to have your say about something.

2. The role of the Council
The Council of the future will perform three
broad roles:
Giving Strong Civic Leadership
Bringing organisations•
and people together
Speaking up for local interests•
Balancing local priorities•
Developing local leaders•
Delivering Modern Services
Knitting services together•
Innovating and tailoring services•
to meet local needs
Ensuring that Council services are•
effective, responsive and lean
Holding other service providers•
to account
Shaping the Places where
people live and work
Leading and co-ordinating•
local development
Tackling social need and building•
peace at the grassroots
Protecting and making best use•
of our environment
Facilitating active citizens to•
release local energy
Our Vision
Imagine service delivery that acknowledges
local difference and where organisations work
together to provide services responsively and
flexibly, providing value for money by reducing
wasteful duplication of effort. Imagine services
designed around the needs of citizens. Imagine,
in short, strong, effective, local government.
Thankfully, we may not have to imagine for
much longer. Decisions will be taken over the
coming months with the potential to provide
local individuals, families and communities with
the type of modern, responsive dynamic, local
government that will make a real difference to
the quality of their lives.
In this Manifesto we show how local government
is already delivering for local people and how
much more could be achieved with the right
powers and responsibilities. We draw on
best practice, to set out how we believe local
government can play its part in partnership
with regional government, local voluntary and
business organisations, other service
organisations and staff to develop a better
future for everyone.
We as local politicians and professional officers
are committed to playing our full part. This
Manifesto sets out what we already do well, and
what we aspire to do in the future to best serve
our local communities.
Sean McPeake
President, Northern Ireland
Local Government Association
John McGrillen
Chairman, Society of Local
Authority Chief Executives

3. Why do we need strong local government?
The roles of Regional Government (the NI
Executive and Assembly) and the local Council
should be complementary but different. Regional
government needs to take a strategic view. It
is the role of Council to focus on developing
an area and meeting the needs of the local
community. A good balance is best for citizens.
We believe a council can best provide:
Local Services which are value for•
money and joined up
Co-ordination of local services•
cutting out duplication and confusion
Support for local partnerships to•
meet local priorities
Facilitation of local development•
appropriate to the area
Greater accountability•
and responsiveness
Flexibility and Efficiency, sharing•
and collaborating where appropriate
Simplicity and Accessibility -•
providing one stop shops, 24/7 services
Place Shaping -developing and•
protecting local identity
Good Relations at the grass roots•
Partnership in government to•
develop effective regional polices
Advocacy for local interests•
Development of a dynamic•
democracy beginning at the grass roots
Councils are closer to people. They are best
placed to meet community needs. We believe
the more ‘place-shaping’ powers that local
government has the better for everyone. This
will facilitate local development and avoid the
endless hours of talking and negotiating between
a variety of stakeholders.
Local Government has a proven track record in
providing value for money and we believe we
can do better. Councils are finding new ways of
working together and we are capable of cutting
costs further, targeting public money at front
line services. We believe allowing councils to
get on and do what they do best will allow the
Assembly to get on with the challenge of dealing
with more strategic and structural issues.
Our record and our potential
Successful areas are those which have a clear
vision for the future and a good understanding
of what needs to happen locally to make
that vision a reality. The strength of local
government is its roots in local communities -
local government is in touch with people. Over
the years local government across Northern
Ireland has invested in ambitious and mould-
breaking initiatives to re-invigorate the areas
and communities they serve. They have brought
services and agencies together in an attempt to
wrap public services around the needs of local
people and to deal with complex local problems
when they arise. Some of the roles we have
effectively played include:
Providing local leadership to
realise local ambition…
Belfast’s Waterfront Hall has been a catalyst for
the re-invigoration of the waterfront in Belfast,
enhancing the cultural life of the city and
generating significant economic benefits. Last
year the Hall hosted over 42,500 conference
and business delegates at over 130 events.
Convening local agencies - practical,
fast, local solutions to localised issues…
In June 2007 many areas experienced serious
flooding – local Councils were able to get people
on the ground immediately. They used their
facilities to provide practical support and access
for local people to get what they needed and to
connect them to all the agencies involved, under
one roof. Councillors provided a familiar face
to support and advocate for vulnerable people
and to ensure that decisions were made to allow
funding to get to people in need within 72 hours.

4. Building strong communities and
promoting community cohesion…
Across Northern Ireland, councils have been
taking the lead in fostering good relations
between different communities within their
areas, helping us emerge from conflict and
begin to realise our true potential, economically,
socially and culturally.
Place-shaping - supporting the
reinvigoration of our
neighbourhoods…
Local government’s track record in shaping
and re-invigorating local neighbourhoods is
substantial. Fundamental in this has been a
connection to local communities that means
development can be linked to sustainable
benefits for local areas. Key areas of delivery
have included, local economic development, local
regeneration initiatives, tourism development,
community safety and the provision of high
quality open spaces and community facilities.
an opportunity
Now we have an opportunity to build upon the
successes of the past, whilst acknowledging
the need to modernise and build capacity. The
powers that local government need are well
evidenced in the experience of projects that
have aimed to do their best for local people but
have ultimately been limited by fragmentation
and lack of co-ordination and authority…
Town centre regeneration in
Newcastle, Co. Down
“The Council was the driving force behind the
regeneration of Newcastle town centre and we
had a clear vision of what local people wanted.
Unfortunately, our priorities for a new and better
townscape were not the priorities of other
agencies and we could only partially achieve the
transformation we had planned.”
Cllr Eddie Rea, Chairman,
Down District Council.
Living Over the Shop Scheme
“Delivering on this project was desperately
frustrating! This was a really simple idea to
assist the regeneration of the town centre. All
the agencies came together and agreed the
process but despite all the talking we could get
little action from some parties! Roll on the day
we can be like our colleagues elsewhere when
we actually have the collective powers to make a
difference”
Cllr Trevor Wilson, Chairman,
Cookstown District Council
Tourism in Fermanagh
“A local businessman came forward with a
proposal for a major development to improve
tourist provision in Fermanagh also benefitting
the whole North West area. But after many
unproductive and costly meetings, reports and
correspondence from the various government
departments involved, the developer was on the
point of shelving the entire project and moving
across the border. Only with the intervention
of this Council was the project saved. It is now
nearing completion and Fermanagh is already
enjoying the significant economic rewards from
this investment”. Cllr Alex Baird, Chairman,
Fermanagh District Council
The diagram shows how difficult it is to get things
done because of the number of organisations -many
working in isolation from each other.
Translink
LEADER+ PSNI
District Policing
Partnerships
Area
Taskforces
Area Partnership
Boards
Department of
Education
Education &
Library Boards
URBAN II
Local Strategy
Partnership
Department of
Environment
Healthy Cities Planning Service
Health Action Zones Council
Health Trusts
Road Service
Neighbourhood
Partnerships
Vol. & Com. Unit
NI Housing
Executive
Over 300 voluntary
sector bodies
Business &
Private Sector
Communities
Translink
LEADER+ PSNI
District Policing
Partnerships
Area
Taskforces
Area Partnership
Boards
Department of
Education
Education &
Library Boards
URBAN II
Local Strategy
Partnership
Department of
Environment
Healthy Cities Planning Service
Health Action Zones Council
Health Trusts
Road Service
Neighbourhood
Partnerships
Vol. & Com. Unit
NI Housing
Executive
Over 300 voluntary
sector bodies
Business &
Private Sector
Communities
Department of
Social Development

5. Making local government work
Councils of today make a difference in their
communities – but they could do more with a
more modern range of services. Primarily, we
believe Councils must be enabled to develop a
strategic vision in partnership with other local
service providers, and facilitate co-ordination
and stakeholder involvement. This process is
called community planning and it is working
effectively in all of the neighbouring nations.
This should be coupled with a power of well-
being which enables a council to take any action,
not already the responsibility of another agency,
to improve the well-being of the local community
or area.
Learning from practice in other regions there are
three prerequisites to make this work.
Firstly, there must be a legal requirement on
public agencies to participate in the community
planning process.
Secondly, councils must be a strong partner.
They must have control of a ‘critical mass’ of
powers and resources.
Services that should be delivered by
local government
Community Planning supported by•
the Power of Well being
Planning and Development Control•
Local economic development and tourism•
Urban and rural regeneration•
Culture, arts, and local events•
Public Health and Emergency Planning•
Community Development•
Equality, good governance and good relations•
Delivery of EU Programmes•
Local roads, parking and traffic management•
Maintenance of the public realm•
Conservation of Natural and Built Heritage•
Sports, Leisure and recreation•
Youth and Library services•
Regulatory Services including•
Trading Standards
If the council has responsibility for the above
range of services it will dramatically improve our
ability to help local communities reach their full
potential, and cut out duplication and waste.
The third prerequisite is that central and
local government need to work as partners
in government to get central policy and local
delivery to work in harmony. We believe a
statutory partnership would work best.
NILGA also believes that where we can we
should start to move forward with modernisation
as soon as possible. For example government
and agencies should support local Community
Planning pilots in advance of 2011, and councils
should begin to further collaborate and share
services.
Some lessons from integration elsewhere…
Anti-social behaviour in Nottingham
“Anti-social behaviour in Nottingham was a local priority. Any real action was hampered by having
to co-ordinate 26 different organisational budgets to address the problem. The new power to
community plan has allowed us to join all the budgets together and design a co-ordinated approach
– we already can see a real impact in the City”. Michael Frater Nottingham City Council.
Public Service Centres in Donegal
“In Donegal, we have developed a model for service delivery which we believe allows the Council to
engage actively with the community and be responsive to the needs, concerns and interests of the
population in a more joined up manner. The development of the landmark Public Service Centres
was made possible by the same joined up approach including the timely involvement of the Council’s
Planning Directorate. In this regard, it has clearly been beneficial to have the planning function
located within the Council.” Ms. Helena O’Toole,
Acting Director of Planning & Economic Development.
Regeneration and Roads in Scotland
“Being able to relocate our roads and manage our traffic allows us to make the most of our local
regeneration projects. I can think of numerous examples of fantastic regeneration projects which
would just not have been possible without changing the road layout. Our councils run Roads services
very effectively” Cllr Pat Watters, President, Scottish Local Government Association.

6. NILGA,
123 York Street,
Belfast,
BT15 1AB
Tel: 028 90249286
Email: j.english@nilga.org
thinkx2
Creating effective local government –
modernising and building capacity
In order to get fit for purpose, local government will build its capacity to address a number of key
performance questions:
Can local government act fairly? - In all areas of Council work, powerful legal and institutional
safeguards guarantee equality, human rights and freedom from discrimination. Working in the
context set by our Assembly, Councils work to be leaders in the fields of equality, good governance
and good relations. We are committed to this aim and put it front and centre of our manifesto.
Can local government be efficient? - Experience of local government in Wales and other places
shows that ‘place-shaping’ functions such as Planning, Regeneration etc. are best delivered
locally by councils able to tailor services to local needs. We agree many ‘process’ services (payroll,
accounts etc) can and should be delivered as a centralised service because they provide economies
of scale. Councils can and do collaborate and share services where economies of scale provide
better solutions.
What added value does local government bring? We agree with the principle of subsidiarity -
services should be planned and delivered as close to the people who use them as possible. NI has a
variety of urban and rural communities and vastly differing needs from area to area. Councils can
reflect, manage and maximise the value of this difference, in partnership with an Assembly bringing
balance and strategic alignment regionally.
Conclusion
We want to bring local solutions to local problems. Communities need to be able to articulate their
views at local level. People deserve local, accessible, integrated delivery of services that improve
the quality of their lives. They need successful and thriving local areas with opportunities for
employment, education and recreation, where development is sympathetic to their needs, whilst
helping realise the ambition they have for themselves and their families; where they can have
thriving social and cultural lives in spaces that are shared, safe and of the highest quality.
We write this manifesto on their behalf.