Whitehall still serving up curved balls

AS of last weekend, local councils now have the power to enforce - through law - local lockdowns if Coronavirus infection rates spike.

It looks increasingly likely that such powers will have to be used by Blackburn with Darwen in coming days as it battles to get on top of an infection spike.

Lots of things are unclear, however. What does a local lockdown mean for people in neighbouring boroughs, such as Rossendale and Darwen?

For Rossendale, where infection rates are not causing undue concern at the moment (relative to everywhere else), local lockdown measures would be determined by Lancashire County Council as the upper tier authority in the county.

On one level, that makes sense as LCC is the public health authority for Lancashire, but it is also further proof of that fact that LCC is just too big as an authority to be able to make relevant local decisions.

We saw a few weeks ago, when councils up and down the country were advising schools on whether to open or not, that LCC felt Lancashire was too big to be able to give advice. It did then change its mind and advised all schools to remain shut, causing much chaos for many parents and teachers.

Hopefully, local lockdown powers won’t have to be used in the areas controlled by Lancashire at all - although Pendle is a worry - but it’s essential if they are, any plans are signed off by Rossendale Council first. Rossendale is the council with more staff out and about every day, and the authority which knows the borough best.

More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that these powers have been given to councils but with very little extra financial support. Our councils have suffered crippling budget cuts in the last decade which one-off grants being sent around now do not replace. Council officers are now being put on the front-line of the Coronavirus battle, with little proof of consistent funding from Whitehall to help.