One positive potentially unforeseen consequence of corona virus is the growth of local trading and local food networks. Long may they continue. This article profiles one scheme in Wales, which exemplifies the trend.

The first post-lockdown crops of the land army have been harvested. The food – chard, spinach, lettuce and radish – is being parcelled out to the local shops, market stalls and those in need. Now the volunteer labour force has its sights on a new goal: a land-use revolution that will make UK farming more nature friendly, plant-based and resilient to future shocks.

At Machynlleth, a bucolic town on the southern fringe of Snowdonia, the recently formed Planna Fwyd! (Plant Food!) movement is encouraging sheep farmers to diversify into vegetable production as their ancestors did. Teams of volunteers have sown crops of potatoes and, once or twice a week, they now fan across the slopes to tend gooseberry bushes, peas and squash. Others distribute seed packets to local families and run online classes on how to grow plants at home.

“If the whole coronavirus experience has taught us anything, it is that we should be more self-sufficient. It was terrifying seeing the empty shop shelves,” said Chris Higgins, a retired academic who gets as much back as he gives from the voluntary work. “It’s very enriching. Growing and cooking food and working together is a great way of engaging with the local community and nature at the same time.”

In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced additional borrowing of £23 billion over the next five years to invest in infrastructure, but the public appear to want more of that money leveraged on local projects. People are 8 times more likely to trust local councillors to make decisions on their behalf over and above MPs and Government Ministers. Furthermore, 5 times more people trust councils over and above Government to make the best decisions on their behalf. There is a lack of trust in private providers as well; the public are 6 times more likely to trust council-run services over and above private contractors brought in to run council services.

Local refuse and recycling services are valued the most by the public out of all council services, but people also ranked support for other council services, like school meals, local council leisure facilities such as swimming pools, gyms and playing fields and parks. Another top priority for investment is local roads, and the public want to see more spent on improvements such as reducing the amount of pot holes. However, APSE warns that the public are now starting to see the impact of austerity, with a sizeable chunk of survey respondents reporting a decline in their local services, with the majority of councils just about managing to keep much-valued local services going.

Edwards was previously director general for criminal justice at the Ministry of Justice, where she headed up the Justice Policy Group. She has also taken on the role of deputy permanent secretary at DCLG.

She has replaced David Prout, who left to head the High Speed 2 rail project. Simon Ridley had undertaken the role in an interim capacity since Prout’s departure in January.

Edwards joined the civil service in 2002, and has previously been chief executive of the National Offender Management Service and director general of the Home Office’s communities group. Before this, she was chief executive at national crime reduction charity Nacro. She has also worked for East Sussex county council and Save the Children.

Head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake said Edwards’ experience in the local government, voluntary and community sectors meant that she brought a “wealth of experience” to the role.

Edwards said that she looked forward to renewing her relationships across these various sectors.

The crisis has led to the country having one of the lowest political participation rates in the developed world – even below that of Palestine and Iraq.

But it is not just politicians who have lost the faith of the people as the police, the church, the banks and the media have also seen a decline in public trust, according to the Daily Mail.

The MPs’ expenses scandal and the handling of the Libor-rate rigging by banks were amongst the controversies which were blamed for damaging public trust.

The 2011 riots provided the country with an insight into the “unpredictable consequences of institutional breakdown”, the researchers for The Economist Intelligence Unit said.

They measured the health of democracy in 167 countries across the globe.

While Britain scored well for having open and free elections, it was found that an alarmingly low number of people – just over six in 10 – actually participated in politics.

Last year the police and crime commissioner elections only saw a turnout of 15 per cent, while turnout for by-elections has fallen below 50 per cent.

The participation rate was ranked below that of all the other major powers in Europe, and fell behind countries which are not even considered to have fully functions democracies – including Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Tunisia and Namibia.

The first trading day of 2013 saw the FTSE100 rising above 6000 for the first time in six months, nearing pre-recession levels. If the economy starts to pick up and Britain starts to grow again the picture might just begin to look a little rosier, but that’s a big if.

The government is desperate to make this happen, and there are signs that senior figures are open to localist solutions to get Britain growing. Community budgets are being taken seriously, and while they are certainly not the sole answer to local government’s financial woes, they may represent the blueprint for the future of public services.

This article claims: “A vandalised nature reserve has reopened after local residents rejected a £300,000 council scheme and did the repair work themselves for a tenth of the price.

“The reserve on Holt Island in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, was ruined by vandals and its walkways swallowed by mud. Huntingdonshire District Council came up with a three-year redevelopment scheme, but a residents’ group completed the same work in 18 months for £30,000.”

What would Hereward the Wake have thought?!

“It reminds us that theatre is live, and that an animal, however well-trained, cannot entirely be relied upon to “act” in the professional manner of his human co-stars”

I wonder if I ought to take Ralph the Jack Russell to the next 3 seminars we are facilitating on that basis – ending where we started (see above) he might well make the idea of the Localism Bill seem a bit more interesting!

On Wednesday night, the 10 o’clock news ran a feature comparing the impact of budget cuts on East Dorset and a London Borough.

The first thing to note is that representatives from both councils didn’t get drawn into a “beggar my neighbour” discussion justifying their own position whilst criticising the other and I thought that was a dignified way to tackle things.

The second thing to note is that I never previously thought that the inequities of the spending formulae for local government – the staple fare of the Rural Services Network – would make popular news in this way and the thing was really well presented.

It set out in a nutshell what we know – many rural authorities rely heavily on council tax rather than government grants to fund their activities. In this scenario with the current cuts being mainly linked to government expenditure those authorities with significant government grants are being hit very heavily and those with a greater reliance on their own “tax base” are proportionately slightly less affected.

Let’s hope viewers didn’t assume it was all “milk and honey” in rural England compared to the tough old world of “the smoke”. What it does emphasise is that rural and urban authorities do have different contexts and that the current way their funding works which treats them as broadly the same apart from their levels of deprivation doesn’t work very well.

It also causes me to reflect on the opportunities linked to the proposals in the Localism Bill about giving authorities the opportunity to control their destinies more through more flexibility over managing their own tax base.

Do the assets sell themselves? or do nationally funded representatives in countries like Mexico and Thailand have a major role in driving tourism visits to places like Stonehenge?

It is all too easy in these hard financial times to be seduced by simplistically criticising the overseas work of organisations like Visit Britain. But when we all have to take a hair-cut (including those like me with no hair!) these are legitimate questions.

Downstream from the sad news that 13 overseas offices are to shut as part of efficiencies at Visit Britain I still have a debate about why the public sector “does” tourism.

I am not saying it is bad thing per se, but as local authorities are concerned with economic development across all sectors I have often wondered why they choose to engage directly in tourism on a commercial basis when they don’t choose to get involved directly in mainstream manufacturing or commercial financial services.

Not that I am advocating the latter! I am sure the roots of this are historic in the context of the inheritance of tourism assets by councils and I am sure that where market failure predominates, particularly in view of the new general power of competence proposed for local authorities in the Localism Bill there is no reason why councils shouldn’t be more entrepreneurial.

Everything is up for grabs in these strange times. I am sure you will have views.