Pragmatism, not politics, is the key to running a big city
Three reflections on good city governance that emerge from Tony Travers' London Boroughs at 50.
Three reflections on good city governance that emerge from Tony Travers' London Boroughs at 50.
A couple of weeks ago I spoke to Professor Tony Travers about his new book London’s Boroughs at 50. Our chat was part of City Talks, the Centre’s monthly podcast series which explores the big issues affecting cities.
We covered a lot of ground about the economic and political history of London and how this informed the decision to reorganise London’s local authorities into the system we have today. We also talked about several issues that are pertinent to the debates happening now about local government reorganisation, big city governance and politics. Three issues in particular are worth bringing out from our chat.
First, it’s perfectly possible to merge local authorities which cover places with distinct political, social, economic and cultural characteristics into a single institution and make it work. For example the current London Borough of Camden is made up of three previous authorities which covered the very different neighbourhoods of Holborn, Kings Cross and Hampstead. Similarly Ealing is made up of the former boroughs of Southall, Ealing and Acton – all of which are very different from each other. Both of these authorities today are among the top performers in the country.
This is relevant to the current debates about the need to reform the local government system, particularly in 2 tier areas, to create unitaries – the proposals around Oxfordshire being the latest example. The resistance to such moves is often based around claims that each place has its own distinct identity that will be lost or that these differences will undermine the performance of the new administration. The experience of London’s boroughs over the last 50 years suggests these concerns are over stated.
Secondly, there is no one way to govern a big city. As the UK’s big cities prepare to select their first metro mayors, each has to decide how the mayor will work with the existing local authorities. Tony reminds us that there is no ‘right’ way of doing this. London’s ‘bottom heavy’ 2 tier system is unique among other big cities. In Paris for example there are 20 arrondissements, but the mayor and the city council are the substantive government institution. New York City is a single unit of government with the five boroughs having very little executive power. And while all these systems could be improved, they all work.
The challenge for each of the new metro mayor cities in the UK will be to design a governance system that works best for them. But whatever system they design, to succeed it will need to clearly set out which institution – mayor, combined authority and local authority – is responsible for what and how they will be held to account.
Thirdly, pragmatism rather than politics is more important to running a successful authority. During the 1980s when London and the country’s other big cities were constantly at odds with the national government, it was the residents, businesses and workers of these cities that suffered the most, as the public services that many of them relied on failed. As the famous 1930s mayor of New York Fiorello LaGuardia once said, ‘there is no Republican or Democratic way of picking up the garbage’. Tony’s book reminds us that he was right.
At a time when national politicians increasingly put political ideology ahead of the country’s needs (for example the Conservatives’ focus on home ownership rather than increasing housing supply, and the Labour Party’s reluctance to devolve power and money to cities, many of which are run by their own councillors), city leaders up and down the country – irrespective of their political hue – are getting on with the job of supporting their economies and reforming public services whilst implementing very challenging budget cuts. To do so, they’ve built partnerships and struck deals with politicians from across the political spectrum, as well as the business community and civic society. With difficult times ahead, it is crucial that local leaders avoid retreating into party politics or parochial rows, and continue to work together to take the right steps to help their economies grow.
Listen to Andrew’s conversation with Tony Travers on our monthly City Talks podcast here. All the episodes are collected on the City Talks page, and you can also subscribe on iTunes here.
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