Since the formation of the coalition, the work of the department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) has been almost exclusively focused on cuts and devolution. And there’s been just one deadline: as soon as possible. Non-departmental bodies have been among the first casualties, as the department initiates a seismic shift in the way that public services are delivered.

The department quickly abolished the Infrastructure Planning Commission, which had only come into being in March. The body’s powers over strategic energy and transport planning are being moved into the department. Meanwhile, the abolition of regional spatial strategies saw planning for housing move back under local council control.

CLG has also set its sights on regional development agencies, which have been unpopular with the Conservative Party for a long time. The coalition agreement announced a plan to replace them with Local Enterprise Partnerships: groups of local authorities and businesses. Councils are currently scrambling to form LEPs, which are likely to win more powers from central government – though they won’t have anything like the security or volume of funding that the RDAs have enjoyed.

Broader regional government architecture has been restructured, with CLG scrapping the Government Office for London and following up with the abolition of the offices for the English regions. The last secretary of state, John Denham, dismissed the scrapping of these bodies as “covert centralisation”, and said: “The decision leaves English regions without any way of co-ordinating economic development, major infrastructure projects and the effective co-ordination of public services”.

Denham argues that the cuts are the end, whereas the coalition says that cuts are the means. The government doesn’t want to co-ordinate, it says; it wants local communities and voluntary groups to take over public services and look after their own areas. More details are expected in a white paper soon.

The ministerial team
The secretary of state, Eric Pickles, is a formidable character – and a popular one within the Conservative Party. In a cabinet dominated by ministers with similar accents, backgrounds and demeanours, Pickles stands out. Yet his appointment is not a token one: his zeal for local government reform has been clear since his days leading Bradford council, where he won Margaret Thatcher’s favour by cutting spending.

His parliamentary private secretary, Stephen Hammond, tells CSWthat his interest in local government continued when he became an MP: “Throughout his time in Parliament he has been consistently interested in local government and the issues that affect local government.” Hammond adds that he is driven by “an absolute view that local government needs to be free of diktat”.

Pickles has five ministers serving him in the department. Greg Clark is minister for decentralisation, and is at the forefront of taking power from Whitehall and putting it in the hands of the populace. A Tory shadow cabinet member who was squeezed out by the coalition partners, Clark is known within the Conservatives for his intellect and has for a long time been seen as a safe pair of hands.

Grant Shapps is minister for housing and local government, having shadowed the role in opposition. He is enthusiastic about the brief, even sleeping rough while in opposition to write a report on the problem of homelessness.

The lone Liberal Democrat in the department is Andrew Stunell, a little-known MP but an important presence in the party. Stunell was in the negotiating team that formed a coalition with the Tories. Former Liberal Democrat head of press Olly Grender told CSW that “there is a strong sense of purpose and synergy in that department”, because Andrew Stunnell and Eric Pickles have found common cause on localism.

Bob Neill is, like Stunell, parliamentary under secretary of state. He was in the shadow communities and local government team and is now the department’s lead on the tricky topic of the Olympics and the Thames Gateway, as well as being responsible for the fire service and local planning.

Written by Joshua Chambers, CSW