Giving cities power over purse strings is good – but don’t forget rural areas
Clive Betts of Sheffield has something useful to say about cities in this article but helpfully keeps the rural dimension in view – should I be surprised? If so I guess it ought to be “pleasantly” surprised. Anybody who thinks about these issues knows cities are nothing without their rural hinterlands. This article tells us:
The argument goes that if our cities are set free to control their own finances they will prosper – and so will our country. But is a country really prosperous if certain areas race ahead while the rest make do with low or no growth? Not everyone lives in a city – and certainly not in London or a core city. What happens to them?
People living in rural areas, in our smaller cities, our market towns and villages, will have to be taken into account or the proceeds of devolution will be confined to cities. England’s local government finance structure, with its system of equalisation and redistribution measures, is complex enough already. How would it change to take account of fiscal devolution to cities but ensure fairness?
We know the answer to this question at the RSN and its about recognising properly the additional cost of delivering rural services – we have a seminar coming to a place near you in January which is free and all about this very issue. More details are available from Wendy.Cooper@sparse.gov.uk