Ahead of the Budget this week, council directors have argued that local government is essential to Number 10's plans for reducing regional inequality but badly needs its own financial reform.
The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) reiterated calls for the chancellor to end the 'over-reliance' on competitive bidding processes.
'It becomes incredibly resource-intensive for councils bidding into multiple pots,' ADEPT said, adding that those 'that are unsuccessful, valuable time and investment that might have been channelled elsewhere have been wasted'.
The news comes after a damning report by the Urban Transport Group (UTG) into competitive bidding found that between 2016 and 2019, 82% of the short-term funding made available by the Government required councils to bid competitively.
President Darryl Eyers said: 'In seeking to ‘level up’ those areas of the country that have been left behind, the Government will depend on the experience, expertise and innovation of local councils.
'Local authorities are often faced with putting programmes together based on small pots of funding from different streams, which is a deeply inefficient means of managing services.
'We know what is right for our areas, and the Government should trust us to get on with it. We need funding brought together in a single pot for place-based services that will enable us to deliver for our businesses and communities.'
He went on to argue that councils were central to the decarbonisation agenda too but needed more funding to deliver 'at scale and at pace'.
ADEPT called for the Government to make it 'an environment budget' on Wednesday (11 March) and for support to tackle the climate crisis through the Shared Prosperity Fund, national infrastructure investment and updating the Green Book to reflect the statutory net zero carbon by 2050 target.
Mr Eyers said: 'We are simply looking to Government to equip us with the resources we need to help us deliver on its commitments.'
Local schemes can include low and ultra-low emission transport for local fleets, support for retrofitting homes and workplaces, nature-based flood defences, that support bio-diversity and active transport, and access to green spaces.
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