Local partnerships for road maintenance, landscaping, street cleaning and recycling are at the forefront of public service reform, according to a report published by the CBI.
The CBI says that private sector providers working in partnership with councils have developed new models for giving local people a greater say in improving services in ways which can turn the rhetoric of ‘empowering people’ into reality.
Its report 'Empowering neighbourhoods: delivering better local services for local people', includes case studies ranging from a streetscene partnership between Slough Borough Council and Accord; landscaping and street cleaning agreements between Serco and Woking Council; area agreements on street cleaning, refuse collection and recycling between Accord and Islington; Amey’s role as a ‘watchman-in-chief’ for Bedfordshire Highways; and Jacobs Babtie’s work on road maintenance for Oxfordshire County Council.
The studies also include examples of successful innovations such as regular polling on customer satisfaction levels, using citizen’s juries to decide service delivery levels and even equipping ‘community champions’ with hand held computers so they can signal local problems than need action.
Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, said: ‘Jargon such as the “politics of empowerment” will mean very little to most people but better services will mean a great deal.
‘Giving communities more engagement from the planning stage all the way through to service delivery and assessment would help improve both the services and people’s perception of them.
‘Some services in particular, such as street cleaning, can only be delivered effectively with the involvement of the public.
‘We need to look for innovative and effective ways to engage people while also delivering better value for money for the taxpayer. Local authorities need to make greater use of partnerships and smarter procurement to achieve this’.
Lord Bruce Lockhart, chairman of the Local Government Association said: ‘The report demonstrates that delivering services to neighbourhoods can be done without excessive costs. The case studies show there is no reason why it cannot be done in all parts of the country.’
• Copies of the report Empowering neighbourhoods: delivering better local services for local people are available from www.cbi.org.uk.
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