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Just when you thought that life was becoming simpler, and the Coalition’s great experiment in localism was about to begin, twenty-four new organisations appear – and they will probably consult like mad … Surely not, you say!

Someone attending an Institute training course recently became very depressed. What’s the use, she said, of learning how to do things properly when all my budget has been removed and I’m required to consult thousands of people without spending any money?

Donald Rumsfeld was ridiculed for using this expression, but it is a useful way to look at the state of uncertainty affecting so many public bodies right now. The Coalition Government has been in power for seven months, and is now starting to put its ideas into practice. Not all require legislation and, when they

Eyebrows were raised in Northern Ireland recently when the Minister for Education extended the closing date of a significant consultation on her strategy for early years services for children. So, why not? Perhaps we could do with some flexibility, especially when public dialogue takes off late in a consultation period, or where consultees reasonably need

Mr Justice Calvert-Smith may not exactly be a household name, but this old Etonian, ex-Director of Public Prosecutions, may well be cheered to the rafters for a couple of judgments delivered in the High Court last week. Those doing the cheering will be charities and community organisations delighted to see that a decision to slash

Whether or not one believed them, the 2010 Election may be remembered as the one where every Party in some way or another promised to defend the ‘front-line’ from the cuts everyone knows are coming. Nurses, doctors, policemen, traffic wardens, teachers, social workers, town planners and all the rest qualify as being on the ‘front-line’

A few weeks ago the National Housing Federation complained that there was a danger that aspects of the new Government’s planning policies risked becoming a ‘NIMBY’s charter’. Then, last week, the Rural Coalition was vocal in questioning the high 80% threshold proposed for the ‘community right to build’ – because a very small number of

Change requires consultation – we all know this. It is one of the reasons why public engagement is so important in these days of deficit-reduction and massive organisational upheavals. But other conditions also place a premium on the ability of people and bodies to maintain a reasonable dialogue. They include those situations when different entities

Whilst we were all anxiously awaiting the ‘advent’ of the real Localism Bill, how many of us noticed the introduction of the Christmas (Localism in action) Regulations? Under these liberating new arrangements, Councils will, henceforth, be able to make whatever arrangements they like concerning Christmas. Ministers argue that we have suffered greatly from a top-down