The Ensuring Council; A new model for
governance, neighbourhoods and service delivery
An ‘ensuring council’ can balance tensions between neighbourhoods and strategic priorities, says
APSE
Councils need to find a balance between demands at the neighbourhood and the strategic level in
order to manage current economic and environmental challenges, according to the latest research by
the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE).
APSE’s research report 'The Ensuring Council; governance neighbourhoods and service
delivery' draws upon the concept of an ‘ensuring state’, put forward by Lord Anthony Giddens in his
recent book on the politics of climate change. Lord Giddens argues that an ensuring state has the
capacity to achieve political and economic convergence across policy sub-systems to tackle global
phenomena. An ‘ensuring council’ is one that is able to balance macro imperatives against micro
dynamics that exist in local neighbourhoods, according to APSE.
Paul O’Brien, chief executive of APSE, said: ‘Neighbourhood working helps achieve better citizen
engagement and community empowerment and can deliver on things that really matter to local
residents, such as refuse collection, street cleansing and tackling anti-social behaviour. This must be
carefully balanced with both national and council-wide priorities however. The need for strategic
approaches has become more urgent in light of the pressing demands of combating climate change,
achieving efficiencies and supporting the local economy.
‘Our research explores those paradoxes and trade-offs that local authorities need to address and the
tightrope walking act this entails is explored within the framework of the ‘ensuring council’. In these
difficult times local communities need an ‘ensuring council’ that can balance tensions between local
engagement and strategic need.’
The research mapped neighbourhood governance models in the context of a range of organisational
structures found in councils across the UK. It ex