'Lessons must be learned' is the inevitable cry after disasters and if there is one definitive lesson to be taken from the coronavirus crisis it is - local government is critical.
The emphasis from the beginning has been government, central control, and it has proved wrong time and again.
This urge for centralisation goes deeper, with Boris Johnson and his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, showing contempt for traditional local administration.
Yet there is clear evidence that this desire for power and control is dangerous. Among the many examples over the past months are the care homes scandal, the botched PPE (personal protective equipment) supply - and the continuing farce of the much trumpeted national test and trace system.
All of which could at least be ameliorated or even solved if left to the local community knowledge and resources of local government.
But the emasculation of our councils, so damaging over recent decades, has been intensified by the present government's hellbent desire for power.
There is clear evidence from other countries, especially in Europe, that greater autonomy for local authorities large and small is a better, safer way.
But in my experience nowhere demonstrates this better than Japan. Despite its reputation for natural disasters and economic crises it has achieved an enviable system that gives local government and its citizens much greater freedom and control.
Its new system, introduced seventy years ago after the horrors of the war, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is a lesson to the rest of the world.
I have seen it at first hand. Almost fifty years ago, on a Churchill Foundation travelling scholarship, I spent two months studying Japanese local government, concentrating on Tokyo
At the time I was public relations officer for the London Borough of Hounslow, created by the reorganisation of the capital's system.
We had a lot to learn and I thought Tokyo might be the answer. It was. I was amazed.
A huge, sprawling mass with 13 million citizens - twice as many as Greater London - it managed to make local government human, and efficient.
The reason? The considerable freedom allowed by central government to get on with its job.
The key was the setup of the Tokyo metropolitan authority and, critically, an elected governor, in overall control, who made all the decisions, that needed to be backed by the elected members.
They had a four-year term but there was no limit on the number of terms and Governor Minobe, in charge when when I was there, lasted 12 years.
I could see why. He was as popular and as proud of his city as his people. A down-to earth man, he used to tour the streets in a loudspeaker van asking passers by if they had any complaints.
The secret of Tokyo's success was its openness. It spent millions on a vast range of information services; had its own radio and television programmes, produced a weekly film and millions of information leaflets.
To ensure everyone got one it paid a resident in each block or neighbourhood a few yen a week to deliver them.
What a contrast to Britain. Before the war the only authority with its own public relations was the London County Council.
My appointment as Caerphilly urban district council's public relations officer in 1962 was the first in Wales. After local government reorganisation, as Cardiff city council's first public relations officer, my budget was £6,000 and I had two staff.
Checking to see what Toyko is doing today under its woman governor, Yuroke Koiko, I find it has got even better.
She has a daily video with the latest coronavirus news and Tokyo still has its own radio and television programmes and a range of information videos and millions of leaflets. Check the website too.
By comparison, Britain's information services are pathetic
The Greater London Authority's website is dull, with its opening message,' An essential guide.....'
The secret of Japan's local government success lies in it being effective not just in the big cities and the bustling, vast Tokyo metropolitan area, but in the smaller towns and even villages.
There are still some problems, of course.Taxes are high but the national government provides funding and lets local government get on with its job, able to respond quickly and efficiently to whatever new crises. And, just as important, keeping them informed.
What a lesson to be learned by Britain.
No comments:
Post a Comment