By Lyndsay Rashman and Zoe RadnorThe authors examine the different approaches to improving local government services through the reforms of the past 25 years which reveal a progressive understanding of organizational change and learning. The contexts, changes and sharing of good practice in local government during this period are discussed in general and through an analysis of the Beacon Council Scheme. The scheme has many achievements to celebrate. Its progress, however, depends on the generic need in public service change to develop an holistic framework which embraces all forms of learning, improvement, innovation and change so that sustainable long-term value can be gained for all stakeholders.
Greater Manchester is to get a record one hundred million pounds to improve recycling and stop the growth in waste, in what is likely to be the most valuable waste disposal contract award in Europe. The money is for a private finance initiative to upgrade waste management services for the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, which covers almost a million homes in Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford as well as the City of Manchester.The area produces 1.5 million tonnes of rubbish each year and in 2002-3 only a little over a tenth of it was recycled or composted. The new project is expected to take that figure to more than 50 per cent by 2020 and divert more than 32 million tonnes of municipal waste away from landfill sites.
Read more on RECORD SUPPORT FOR MANCHESTER WASTE INITIATIVE…
The Government is being warned today that without an urgent change of course in the implementation of policies for sustainable communities, the countryside, urban regeneration and the quality of life of countless people is set to suffer lasting damage.The warning comes from Neil Sinden, the policy director of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, with the launch of the CPRE’s critique of the Government’s Sustainable Communities Plan. The publication coincides with the start of the Government’s Delivering Sustainable Communities Summit in Manchester.
Read more on CALL FOR CHANGE OF COURSE ON SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES PLAN…