David Jenkins’ Weblog

I was fortunate to be able to attend the Local Government Association conference in Bournemouth at the beginning of the month.

It was a reasonably ‘glittering’ affair with speakers from the higher echelons including Boris Johnson (amusing as always), David Cameron  (very slick) , Nick Clegg (serious) and Hazel Blears. There were sessions dedicated to housing development, climate change, social care and sustainable communities. What I found good about the conference was that it was essentially apolitical. It seems that local councillors of all persuasions are united against a common enemy viz Whitehall.

The most valuable parts of the conference for me were the workshops where I was able to listen to examples of best practice regarding maintenance of the post office network (Essex CC), commissioning of services (Peterborough CC) and use of the 3^rd sector (Leeds CC).