Labour demands Whitehall keep out of local issues like tarting up bus shelters

11 February 2023 , 19:55

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Lisa Nandy will slam government departments poking their nose into local issues (Image: PA)

Labour will today demand Whitehall keep its snout out of local issues such as tarting up bus shelters and where to put a public bench.

Yet the Government’s nosy parkers even insist councils get their go-ahead to scrape chewing gum off the streets.

Shadow Levelling Up secretary Lisa Nandy today hits out at Tory micromanagement of local communities.

And she promises a Labour government will transfer power out of Westminster to help local economies to grow and make their own decisions.

Speaking at Labour’s Local Government conference she will say: “We’re calling time on this tired, failed approach.

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“No longer will we write off the assets, talent and potential of most people in most parts of Britain.”

Ms Nandy will say that Whitehall mandarins are so busy on little jobs they lose sight of the major ones like fighting crime and getting NHS waiting lists down.

These have included Department for Transport officials deciding who should receive money for the maintenance of local traffic lights
A new public bench near Stockport needed the approval of the government’s Towns Fund while Whitehall set up a “Chewing Gum Task Force” to coordinate clearing it from local streets .

A public bench near Stockport needed approval from the government (Liverpool Echo)

It was Whitehall not local authorities which oversaw the installation 500 new accessible toilets and a music education centre in South London required central government approval.

Parking and picnic areas in Northern Ireland had to get its cash from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund,
Birmingham and Halifax for swimming pools, and Hinckley & Bosworth money for a zoo.

A new film studio in Ashford, Kent needed Whitehall approval which also micromanaged funding for bus shelter upgrades in North Lincolnshire .

Michael Gove ’s Levelling Up department also got stuck into a children’s play area in Ellesmere Port and Ken’s Canterbury Castle required London’s permission to reopen.

Even Tory West Midlands Mayor Andy Street fumed about the meddling from Whitehall.

He said: “You need to trust mayors to take the right decisions, not have their proposals marked by civil servants and ministers in London.”

The Local Government Association said it costs each council around £2.25million a year chasing down various pots of money distributed from the centre.

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Yet councils were invited to bid into 448 separate funding pots administered by central government between 2015 and 2019:

Ms Nandy will add: “A Labour government will do its job, but what it won’t do is the job of local leaders and communities.”

Nigel Nelson