Recession hits LAAs

The looming recession will force councils to renegotiate local area agreements (LAAs) to shift resources towards providing jobs and affordable housing.
Local government is braced for rising crime, unemployment and repossessions — all common in downturns — and sector leaders said the seismic shift in priorities will need to be reflected in the targets.

Barking & Dagenham LBC chief executive Rob Whiteman said councils could look to negotiate on both locally agreed targets and the priorities chosen to best represent each area's challenges.

"A lot of the LAA targets are built around social exclusion indicators. The hardening economic climate will make it harder to achieve the targets," he said.

"We should have a better idea of how bad the situation is by July, when councils will have the chance to refresh their LAAs."

Elected mayor of Lewisham LBC, Sir Steve Bullock (Lab), said: "The knock-on effect of the current crisis will be very fundamental. There will be greater demand for services, more homelessness and more people defaulting on their council tax."

And Waverley BC chief executive Mary Orton complained her LAA targets on house building could no longer be achieved. "The LAA is almost fantasy world now," she added.

Councils will be given the chance to 'refresh' their indicator set of to 35 targets next July, a year after the original negotiations, and it looks increasingly likely that many local authorities will examine the impact of the economic downturn.

Widely chosen targets which could be hit by the economic downturn include reducing numbers of 16 to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training and those relating to house building.

Author: James Illman. LGC reporter