Waking up Wokingham

Ben Tuxworth has never actually met Wokingham Man – but he blames him for the decline of local government. Technically he lives in Wokingham, but in truth he lives in his car. His high income, lack of kids, IT job with its long working hours and regular relocation all suit him down to the ground, but spell disaster for Wokingham. To him it’s a pleasant dorm – easy parking near the shops, nice safe gated estate, bins that get emptied, handy for the gym, town and Heathrow. His political engagement begins and ends with this lifestyle shopping list, and as long as the council tax stays lowish, he really couldn’t give a monkey’s who is in charge. If you want to make him laugh, suggest he stands for election as a local councillor. To him, the council is full of nameless arse-shiners and losers, at best a joke and at worst a real drag on the rations. Dress it up as ‘democratic deficit’ or ‘voter apathy’, but this extreme case, as described to me by a group of council staff a couple of years ago, tells you all you need to know about the drift in local politics. As long as local councils can’t make a more compelling case for themselves than ‘enabling efficient service delivery’ then frankly why would anyone bother with them? There was a time when local government did just about everything – from birth to burial via education, transport, power generation, drinking water and housing. The zenith of the local state came about, not because central government thought it was a good idea and gave power away, but because local people wrested power from the centre to solve intolerable local problems – or simply got on with it. Call it enlightened self-interest, but the great architects of the local state built powerful institutions on the back of locally popular issues – such as workers’ rights, education and public health. Joseph Chamberlain, in Victorian Birmingham, was mayor for three years and left the city “parked, paved, assized, marketed, gas and watered, and improved”. Match that. All right, there ain’t no more Joseph Chamberlains, as Brummies like me can confirm. But his story might still hold the key to the rejuvenation of local government. It resonates in the fortunes of mayors such as Ray Mallon and Ken Livingstone. Their motivations, like Chamberlain’s, come from a passionate concern for the place they represent. Like him, they put that place before political allegiance. And, like him, they both have a quirky personal style that has injected life into local politics in a way the government’s other big idea – cabinet government – has singularly failed to do. Their popularity remains virtually undented, because they’re visibly trying to make things better for their communities – and won’t be stopped by an uncomfortable climate nationally. As for their green credentials – Mallon’s drive for the hydrogen economy in the North East, and Livingstone’s congestion charge, show how environmental issues can make popular local politics too. OK, we’ll probably see more ‘stunt’ candidates in the next mayoral elections, and it may take more than a few mayors to get Wokingham Man to take any notice, but the power of a new, populist, provocative voice on the local scene is a real step forward in getting a new head of steam up for local government. The best of the elected mayors are re-injecting the distinctiveness, confidence and sense of possibility that our great cities were built on. Whatever you think of their politics, this kind of reinvigoration of local identity and debate is a cornerstone of sustainable development, and something we’re going to need plenty of, if our cities are to meet the challenges the 21st century will throw at them.

Ben Tuxworth is director of strategy at Forum for the Future.

8 June 2004

Ben Tuxworth