Councils set out post-pandemic recovery vision

The Local Government Association has launched its build back local campaign to demonstrate the vital role councils must be able to play to help communities recover from the devastating social and economic impact of the pandemic.

During the coronavirus crisis, central and local government have shown what can be achieved when they work together towards a shared goal, providing local leadership, supported by exceptional and dedicated council staff.

The LGA highlights several examples of this work. Firstly, councils have protected millions of the most vulnerable and supported businesses in our communities with various grants and financial support. Through Everyone In and other programmes, councils worked at exceptional pace and got over 37,000 people into safe accommodation.

Local contact tracing, led by Directors of Public health and their teams helped minimise the spread of the virus in our local places, with surge testing vital in helping us to confront new coronavirus variants. Alongside the NHS, councils have also played a key role in the vaccination roll-out.

At this week’s Virtual Annual Conference - which will see more than 1,700 local government leaders, councillors and ministers come together to discuss the most pressing issues facing our country - the LGA is publishing its Build Back Local paper, exploring a series of ‘pen portraits’ to give a resident-centred view of local services and explore the future journeys our residents will be taking.

Local leaders argue that the process of levelling up must be one that is tackled from the bottom up, led by local councils who are best placed to bring together partners to tackle the challenges facing their communities.

James Jamieson, LGA Chairman, said: “The past 18 months have been incredibly difficult for our communities, as well as being a defining point in our country’s history. In this time, the value of local leadership has been evident. The Covid crisis has shown what we can achieve when government enables councils to innovate and create new services locally. As we look towards the next phase, it is vital that councils are backed to lead the recovery and support our communities as we learn to live with the virus.

“Levelling up cannot just be a political slogan. It has to mean a radical reset of the relationship between central and local that leads to real change for people’s lives. As we come through the most difficult period many of us have ever faced, our communities cannot afford us to miss this vital opportunity to build back local.”