Thursday 13 May 2010

I made a speech at County Council on Thursday 13 May 2010 about the new government.  I've cut it down a bit here on my blog to help make it read more easily - if anyone would like a transcript of my speech please email me at leadersblog@kent.gov.uk.

"In the combined manifesto there is a direct message that 'control shift' is going to take place, real devolution and real empowerment to local government in all its shapes and sizes in this country.  One line from the manifesto states: “the parties will promote devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups. This will include a full review of local government finance”.

This presents enormously exciting opportunities to us in Kent to start to shape that agenda. We all agree and support the localist agenda and the principles of subsidiarity and I am  very keen on the work which is currently being led by my Deputy Leader, Alex King, in re-defining the Kent Commitment, known as the Kent Re-Commitment. We are working together with the 12 District Leaders to come up with a new arrangement in the way that we work together with all the public and voluntary agencies in our community, to much greater effect, making sure it really is a bottom-up not top-down approach in Kent. And we are coming up, with the working group that Andrew Bowles is Chairing, with some brave and bold and radical propositions to make the family of local government really deliver. Seamless, better quality public services to our residents enshrining the best principles of the Total Place concept.

At the regional level, there is an enormous amount of work to be done in re-defining the essential minimalistic regional architecture and as Chairman of 74 Local Authorities in South East England, there is an enormous role in re-shaping what those 74 authorities have an appetite for, in bringing together the district plans, the county plans and the strategic plans for the south east region. I have no doubt that other regions will wish to continue in a significant way and the South east of England, in its dominant role, particularly contributing towards the economy of this country, must not get left behind.

And within that is the future of Regional Development Agencies where both Party manifestos are suggesting that if there’s no appetite for Regional Development Agencies, then devolution and empowerment to local government should take place and what that will therefore mean for Regional Development Agencies in the South East of England - a lot of work in shaping the future and working with central government on that issue. And again at a regional level, the appetite for Strategic Health Authorities or their removal? Another big question that needs to be grappled with.

Moving on, some radical changes in welfare, particularly welfare to work and again the role that we can play in Kent in shaping that agenda, based on a lot of innovation that’s already gone on in the county around the Supporting Independence Programme and what we’re doing with young people to substantially reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training. I’m expecting that when the full team is established at the Department of Work and Pensions, under Iain Duncan-Smith that Lord Freud, a Kent resident who we have been working with very closely as part of the shadow Cabinet team, has a full involvement in that team as again we have a lot of exciting propositions to input to shape that agenda.

In education there is a re-commitment to the philosophy of Free Schools - empowering Free Schools to be set up within the community of existing State provision. And I hope that I give no mixed messages in what I said about the funding of Free Schools, to make sure that the dice is not skewed in favour of Free Schools or maintained schools.  We need to make sure we have open competition and ‘a level playing field’ and that we don’t re-invent some of the mistakes on funding of the past particularly where Grant Maintained schools had a favourable funding regime, which in my view, disadvantaged Maintained schools or Community schools that were working alongside those Grant Maintained schools and to a degree the unfairness in some of the Academy funding proposals that exist at the moment. But we have an enormous opportunity to work to their agenda particularly in early years and the infant range of our primary schools in defining the new curriculum and a real focus on getting education fit for purpose in the country and in Kent and building momentum on what we have done so successfully in the past.

The manifesto includes a statement about airports and runway extensions, a commitment there that there will be no additional runway at Heathrow, no additional runways at Gatwick or Stansted, which in my view gives us an enormous opportunity to continue to promote expansion at both Manston and Lydd airport and help drive forward an extraordinary economic opportunity for prosperity around a growing regional hub airport at Manston. There is also a comment about nuclear power plants and the opportunity again here to put Dungeness back on the agenda where the communities in that part of the county very much support a new power station, because of the employment opportunities that would be created in that area of Shepway.

So, in my view, it's a phenomenally exciting time to be involved in local government where 'control shift' is clearly going to take place and I am determined to make sure KCC, with its long track record of delivering excellence and innovation, plays a full part in shaping the future significant role of local government. And I am confident that Mrs Dean and her Liberal Democrat colleagues will help and support us in this endeavour.

And in the spirit of ‘entente cordial’ I would like to congratulate Mrs Dean on 25 years of continuous service as an elected Member of this authority."

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