Total Place - a 'magic bullet'?

Guardian Public

Guardian Public has published a report, Overlapping Interests, on a roundtable discussion convened in collaboration with Birmingham's local strategic partnership (LSP) Be Birmingham and the Audit Commission.

They asked whether Total Place 'could be the "magic bullet" the public sector needs to dig itself out of a spending black hole, without a collapse in local service provision.'

Issues discussed included

  • which authority should take the lead in multi-tier areas
  • whether streamlining services and identifying savings would be enough to compensate for anticipated funding cuts
  • the relationship between Total Place and comprehensive area assessment (CAA)
  • the need for more evidence, as well as more analysis
  • appropriate geographic boundaries for decision making


No definitive answers were identified, but the report makes interesting reading:


4 November 2009