Yet another speech from local government ministers about the broad range of changes going on in local government. Some of which have already happened (LAA’s, LSP’s and some devolution to communities) and some that look possible – namely, city regions, changes to two-tier areas and further devolution.

The problem that seems to be raised, particularly with the two-tier reform, is that people want to know the terms of the changes – some ground rules. Understandably this comes from both members and officers. The line from the ODPM seems to be that no decision has been made on two-tier areas yet. This is probably to avoid jumpiness from councils that might be scrapped, but it adds to the uncertainty. The lack of ground rules also means that when we’re asked to come forward with our proposals for what we think the most appropriate local government structures should be – there is a concern that we don’t know what things like the preferred population should be.

I think it’s actually quite clear what the government are trying to achieve, and it’s spelled out yet again in the speech by Jim Kirkpatrick. The devil is in the detail. And while the govt appears to be trying to consult to create the ground rules and build a consensus on the way forward, many in local govt can’t help but get stuck in the detail – because that’s their job.

So while the whole thing has been an open process and the govt are trying to make a good job of it, it wouldn’t surprise me if the white paper still comes as a surprise to people.