The 'Great Survivor' lives on? Resilience, austerity and devolution in English local government

This article explores interpretations of resilience within English local government. Using a historical and multi-scalar framework, it argues that previous accounts of resilience in English local government have neglected the effect of sub-national institutional restructuring and compounding the impact austerity has had on local government capacity to navigate this complex landscape. The article situates resilience in the broader context of decentralisation, illustrating the benefits of adopting a broad spatial perspective to focus on resilience within local government systems. Continuing austerity and inconsistently applied institutional reorganisation are highlighted as potential twin threats to the 'survivability' of English local government.