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Councils face ‘real challenge’ over talent retention and capacity as devolution ramps up
Councils face a “real challenge” in attracting talent and upping their capacity to leverage greater devolution to meet their local housing needs.
Councils face ‘real challenge’ over talent retention and capacity as devolution ramps up #UKhousingThe concern comes around half a year after the government published its devolution white paper which out the extra powers and funding local authorities could get – including for housing and regeneration.
Speaking at the Housing 2025 conference in Manchester about the challenges his clients face particularly from a local and central government perspective, local authority recruitment expert, Marek Dobrowolski, said: “There’s a real sense, and there has been a real sense I think, that devolution has given real keys to opportunity.
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“But it’s only going to be as good as the talent and the capacity and the system to be able to deliver against that ambition.
"And that is a real that’s a real challenge at the moment. It’s against the backdrop where I think we are asking local authorities to do more.”
Skills needed to deliver these ambitions include planners who understand viability, regeneration officers who can negotiate effectively, and politicians who know how to manage risk.
“So being able to not only attract but to retain and train and develop talent, I think, over the next 10 years, against this type of backdrop is absolutely, yeah, absolutely critical.”
One suggestion was for shared talent pools across regions. There was also concern about the impact of people moving from the public to the private sector.
Mr Dobrowolski, also highlighted the potential of a more national focus, telling the session: “I think we probably need to think about a national framework if we’re going to tackle the housing crisis over the next 10 years.”
Devolution has been the focus at many of the sessions at this year’s conference.
Panellists at a discussion on Tuesday set out why Homes England needs to put devolution at the heart of the new Affordable Homes programme (AHP) and distribute the cash quicker in a way that moves away from a site-by-site approach.
Speaking on day one, two senior council leaders were joined by sector professionals to discuss the practical, financial and policy challenges that need to be addressed to support the delivery of 1.5 million new homes across tenures.
Delegates heard how there were viability concerns in bringing brownfield sites forward, alongside the ability to deliver larger numbers of social homes on larger sites.
Tom Stannard, chief executive of Manchester City Council, discussed how devolution and partnerships would help make the most of the £39bn in AHP cash.
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