The local elections are just around the corner, with everyone in England and Wales able to vote in either council, metro mayor or police and crime commissioner elections, or a combination of the three.

With the Conservatives behind in national polling, the increasing importance of independent candidates, and some bellwether mayoral and council contests taking place on 2 May, there is a lot to talk about.

In this special Local Authority episode, LGC deputy editor Martin George is joined by editor Sarah Calkin and head of news Kirsty Weakley to discuss all this and more. The trio are joined by elections expert Colin Rallings who explains why he thinks the Tories could lose up to 500 seats, and by Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities, to talk about its recent polling about the metro mayors.

Find out more about sponsoring an episode of The Local Authority by downloading a copy of the media pack here, or emailing [email protected]. 

Councils are increasingly recognising the value of involving communities in the design of services meanwhile financial pressures have seen the delivery of services such as libraries outsourced to community groups. And though new technology has provided more ways for councils to engage with their residents and businesses, misinformation through social media platforms can often undermine trust. 

In this episode of The Local Authority we explore what the relationship between councils and their communities should look like and how councils can build trust and democratic engagement.  

LGC editor Sarah Calkin is joined by: 

• Elizabeth Campbell (Con), leader of Kensington & Chelsea RBC  

Find out more about sponsoring an episode of The Local Authority here: https://lgcplus.com/podcast

Children’s services are frequently cited as the biggest current pressure on council budgets, with costs having spiralled in recent years. But despite huge increases in spending there is concern children are often not getting the care and support they need, with shortages of placements meaning young people can often find themselves placed many miles away from the people and places they know. Furthermore placements are increasingly being provided in facilities run by private equity backed firms, sparking concerns of excessive profit making.

In this episode of The Local Authority, the podcast from Local Government Chronicle, we explore what has gone wrong and what needs to happen to fix a broken system.

LGC editor Sarah Calkin is joined by:

• Louise Gittins (Lab), chair of the LGA children and young people’s board and leader of Cheshire West & Chester Council

The UK is one of the most centralised countries in the world and local authorities enjoy few revenue raising powers when compared with their counterparts in other developed nations. In recent years calls have been growing for local authorities to be given the power to set new taxes or take control of elements of the existing tax base. However, central government has so far resisted these calls.

In this episode of The Local Authority, the podcast from Local Government Chronicle, we want to explore the arguments for fiscal devolution, what that could look like in practice and why it is being met with resistance.

Joining Sarah Calkin this month is Jamie Driscoll, metro mayor of the North of Tyne Combined Authority; Jessica Studdert, deputy chief executive of New Local and Ross Mudie, research analyst at The Centre for Progressive Policy. 

Available on all streaming services now!

Spiralling inflation has pushed up the cost of borrowing while the high-profile failure of some councils that took on large amounts of debt has increased scrutiny of council investments. In this episode of The Local Authority, the podcast from Local Government Chronicle, we want to explore how councils are approaching funding of regeneration in this environment and whether attitudes to commercialisation in local government have changed. Joining Sarah Calkin this month is Sarah Norman, chief executive at Barnsley MBC; Rob Whiteman, chief executive at CIPFA and Tracy Bingham, strategic director (corporate resources) at South Derbyshire DC.  The episode is available for streaming on all podcast platforms now.

For the past decade, the government’s preferred model of devolution has been to combined authorities with directly elected mayors. However, more than five years on from the election of the first metro mayors, there is ongoing resistance from councils to adopting this model. In this episode of The Local Authority, a podcast from Local Government Chronicle, we explore what is behind this resistance and how the model is working in those places where it already exists.

Joining LGC editor Sarah Calkin this month is Professor Carolyn Wilkins, fellow at Birmingham Leadership Institute and former chief executive of Oldham MBC; Cllr Anna Smith (Lab), former leader of Cambridge City Council and deputy mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority and Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at Centre for Cities. The episode is available for streaming on all platforms now. 

Many officers start their careers as specialists in their field, such as finance, law, social care or planning, but the nature of their job changes as they are promoted to roles that see them working closely with elected politicians and facing public scrutiny. In this episode of The Local Authority, a podcast from Local Government Chronicle, we explore how the sector can better support officers moving into more senior positions. Joining LGC deputy editor Martin George are Joanne Roney, chief executive of Manchester City Council; Bruce McDonald, leader of Elmbridge BC, and Deborah Evans, chief executive of Lawyers in Local Government.

Available on all platforms now. 

May’s elections saw more than 80 councils change political control with an increase in the number of councils under no overall control. Often this can mean the councillors involved in forming an administration are doing so for the first time; sometimes they can also be relatively new councillors who are still getting to grips with how the council works or forming a coalition with political opponents. In this episode of The Local Authority, we’ll explore how to best support newly elected members, and ensure the success of councils with minority or coalition administrations.

Joining LGC deputy editor Martin George are William Benson, chief executive of Tunbridge Wells BC; Cllr Liz Leffman (Lib Dem), leader of Oxfordshire CC and Cllr Abi Brown (Con), chair of the Local Government Association’s innovation and improvement board and former leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

 For the fourth year in a row the government has handed councils a single year finance settlement, albeit with some indication of what to expect for the following year. After more than a decade of funding restraint and in the face of high inflation, the uncertainty of single year budgets adds to councils’ challenges in planning services. In this episode of The Local Authority, LGC, along with our partners TPXimpact, wanted to explore how councils are managing these circumstances.

Joining LGC editor Sarah Calkin this month is Patrick Melia, chief executive at Sunderland City Council; Cllr Peter Marland (Lab), leader of Milton Keynes Council and Joanne Pitt, head of policy at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy.

Available on all podcast platforms now. 

More councils are struggling than ever before: in the past two years eight councils have been subject to formal government intervention or only narrowly avoided it, compared to five in the 12 years prior to that. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities recently advertised for inspectors and commissioners, suggesting there may be more interventions to come. In this episode of The Local Authority, we explore why so many councils currently appear to be struggling, the role of government commissioners and intervention and what it takes to bring about lasting improvement.

Joining Sarah Calkin this month is Joanna Killian, chief executive at Surrey CC and commissioner at Liverpool City Council; Cllr Graham Chapman, former deputy leader at Nottingham City Council; Tony McArdle, chair at Croydon LBC Improvement Panel and Paul Frainer, partner at TPXimpact.