Local councils are to be given the powers to seek the closure of alleyways in 52 areas to help prevent crimes such as robbery, burglary, arson and drug dealing. The announcement has been made by the Environmental Quality Minister, Alun Michael.Mr. Michael made his announcement in Walsall, where six areas will be designated for rights of way closure. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was one of the 11 authorities that provided sufficient evidence to Defra that closing rights of way in would help cut crime. Applications were made by 15 local authorities to be allowed to consider closures of alleyways in 78 areas. The moves were supported by evidence from police and community groups. Decisions on the remaining applications have been deferred to give those councils the chance to provide more evidence that the rights of way are facilitating crime.
Projects run by five local authorities have been selected as eligible for a share of thirty-nine million pounds of public funding towards the cost of culture and leisure projects under the Private Finance Initiative. The five councils – Croydon, Liverpool, Rochdale, Rotherham and South Tyneside – will now have to make an outline business case to qualify for the money. Croydon’s plan is for the replacement of a branch library, a borough housebound service and music service to be provided in conjunction with a new community school. Liverpool wants to build a new central library and archive. Rochdale, meanwhile, is proposing new library and learning centres to be developed in conjunction with three new Joint Service Centres. Rotherham’s plan is for three community swimming pools linked to school sites and South Tyneside Council is planning a community theatre and swimming pool linked to the building of a new school.The Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said the Department of Culture Media and Sport’s PFI programme was already supporting sixteen culture and leisure schemes. DCMS has an allocation of a hundred and fifty million pounds of PFI credits for the current spending review period and the 39 million credits have been allocated on a provisional basis to the five projects that are regarded as having the highest priority.
The Audit Commission has identified building capacity through partnership as the key driver for improvement. The main messages in this paper have been distilled from the comprehensive performance assessment process. In recent years the scope and number of partnerships have increased particularly with the advent of community strategies and local strategic partnerships. The evidence from CPA is that these partnerships are beginning to lead to improved services for local people, and to an increase in the types of services that are on offer.Joint local working now needs to be extended to form a fundamental part of local service delivery, and the ability of councils to lead or contribute to partnerships will become increasingly important in securing improvement for their localities. One of the most successful ways to build capacity is for councils to work in partnership by linking up with other councils and the public, private and voluntary sectors to achieve a common goal. It is also important to plan and implement jointly agreed programmes of action, as well as encouraging local people to participate in improving their quality of life.