There is to be a 'bonfire of red tape', at least according to the new Brown government. Of course we have heard this before, when Ruth Kelly was running the Communities and Local Government department. Now this has been re-announced by Andy Burnham, Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Well, I will believe it when I see it.
In Basildon we have always balanced central government targets with actually doing the things that local people want, like keeping the Council Tax down and collecdting the bins weekly. The targets can't entirely be ignored, however, because the government can make trouble for local Councils that really don't co-operate. So, we have adopted a balanced policy towards them as opposed to treating them as the Word of God like the government intended, but there is still a cost in terms of the Council's focus being on Whitehall instead of on local people.
Now if Brown could just give Basildon more than the absolute minimum Revenue Support Grant...
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