London’s boroughs need a “Combined Board” model to help speed up decision-making and service delivery for the capital’s residents, the Mayor has been told.
Cllr Claire Holland, who chairs the cross-party London Councils group, repeated her calls for increased devolutionary powers for local authorities, so they would share decision-making powers over certain policy areas.
Currently, the collaboration between boroughs and the Greater London Authority (GLA) is voluntary, and has delivered initiatives such as the Warmer Homes Programme, which works on on energy saving measures for the most vulnerable London residents.
Cllr Holland suggested that “hardwiring” this relationship through a Combined Board model would help “get money through the door, more quickly” – but suggested she was willing to be patient before anything was formalised.
However, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill introduced by the government in July did not address the matter, leaving London Councils to continue to lobby for the structural change.
“We need to open the conversation – because I don’t think most Londoners realised that when we work with the mayor and the GLA, it is voluntary collaboration,” Cllr Holland told an event at the annual Labour Party conference.
“We are not a combined authority like Manchester or West Midlands. We work very closely with the mayor, but because this is voluntary collaboration, there’s no hardwiring into the system of decision making and it can prolong the length of time. We say that if you hard wire it in, you get more efficient decisions and we get money through the door, more quickly.”
She said London Councils’ current focus was on the integrated settlement being handed to London next year. While the GLA will have devolved powers over how any grants allocated are spent, it is understood that the group are keen to work with the Mayor on the distribution.
Cllr Holland added: “When we get that funding, we need to work out what the governance is around it for London. So we’re very open to what that looks like, and the mayor’s very open. That’s what we need to focus on at the time being. I don’t think the question ultimately is closed, but right now we need to look at the integrated settlement.
Questioned about how urgent devolution reform was for London’s boroughs, Cllr Holland told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “The GLA Act is 25 years old. I’m hoping it’s a conversation that’s not going to go away, but I understand that the government has quite a lot going on in devolution across the country right now.
“And so I think London will come up maybe at a later date, but not right now, and I really want to focus on getting the integrated settlement right.”
Last month, a report from the GLA Oversight Committee appeared to reject the proposal from London Councils, suggesting that London is ”a significantly larger and more complex city with 33 local authorities” compared to places like Manchester, which has 10.
The authors said: ”It would clearly be unmanageable to run a strategic authority with 34 decision-making authorities (including the GLA).
“The London Councils proposal seeks to address this by concentrating borough input via a smaller board, but this in itself means that some parts of London would not be fully included in decision-making.
“Under the current model, while some improvements would be beneficial, the whole of London is represented via the Assembly in GLA decision-making and scrutiny.
“This unique role of the Assembly clearly distinguishes London’s devolution model from that in other English cities.
“We are of the view that London’s mayoral model should not be weakened or fragmented by introducing novel joint decision-making structures. Introducing additional decision-making structures risks confusing governance, undermining transparency, and weakening accountability.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London told the LDRS: “Sadiq was elected as Mayor for all Londoners and is focused on delivering on the issues that matter most.
“This includes providing free school meals for all state primary school children, starting more new council homes than any time since the 1970s, making public transport more affordable, taking world-leading action to tackle the climate crisis and air pollution, and being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime – with violent crimes such as homicide, lethal barrel discharge and violence with injury lower than when he became Mayor in 2016.
“Sadiq has a good relationship with London’s local authorities and will continue to work closely with local Government across the capital to deliver services, improve the lives of communities and build a fairer, safer and greener London for everyone.
“In particular, he is committed to working with London Councils to deliver an integrated settlement for the capital that will further boost services.”
