As the economy emerges blearily into the sunshine of economic recovery, local officials up and down the country are stuck in dark rooms.
As they frantically juggle dwindling budgets and make tough decisions about services and jobs, it's easy for the recovery to seem like a distant irrelevance. The task to improve local economic performance could easily slip down their enormous to do lists. But the local authorities I've talked to know this would be a mistake.
That's because most know that one great way to address deprivation, help vulnerable adults and children, and improve local quality of life is by supporting enterprise and job creation. They recognise that doing this saves money and improves people's lives in the medium to longer term.
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Read the full article in Planning.
