AND GONE TOMORROW?
District councils could be abolished, and more elected mayors could be introduced across England under new plans for a major redesign of local government. This would mark a scale of reorganisation beyond what Labour promised in its election manifesto and arguably the biggest shake-up of local government since the 1970s.
A big ask, wouldn’t you say?
Nobody wants it more than ‘Tory Tim’ Oliver, the leader of Surrey County Council! Despite Waverley Tories repeatedly winging about the efforts made by Waverley and Guildford councils to streamline services and share workforce and offices.
The County Councils Network has welcomed the plans. Saying its members “now recognise the need to embrace the benefits” of devolution in the face of “significant financial challenges.” Its chairman, Tim Oliver, said it had become clear that in many county areas, reorganisation was needed to “unlock” more generous funding from central government and create “more financially sustainable” councils.
Quelle surprise! Cllr Oliver has lusted after a behemoth unitary authority for years. He wants to unlock more generous funding. Of course, he does! Surrey CC is in heavy-duty financial dog doo with a £17.7m 0verspend this year!
Housing Minister Andrew Norris pledged yesterday that county council elections “WILL definitely” go ahead next May.
Government Ministers have published a paper proposing to streamline services by merging areas with two tiers of local authority—smaller district and larger county councils. They are opposed to three tiers, so could parish councils be included?
Elected metro mayors will also gain new powers over planning, hoping to speed up the delivery of new housing and infrastructure.
However, the district council body warned that the plans could spark “turmoil” and argued that “mega-councils” could undermine local decision-making.
Labour proposes streamlining local government to create more powerful local mayors to unblock infrastructure and attract significant investment.
Elected mayors would then oversee areas representing two or more councils and be handed more powers over planning decisions and public transport.
Dozens of district councils, 11 in Surrey, could be abolished, prompting some to claim it would deprive people of genuinely localised decision-making.
Liberal Democrats say council budgets are “on the brink” and that more vital services would disappear if social care were not adequately funded.
It would require a series of deals nationwide emulating North Yorkshire, which now has a unitary authority after eight councils were merged last year.
The overall timetable and route to achieving this has not been confirmed, and it is not yet clear if the government will use legal powers to force councils together or if it hopes to encourage them to do so through funding arrangements.
Labour argues that the overhaul will simplify local government and reduce costs by improving service delivery.
In a speech on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner will vow to devolve the “default position of government” and give councils the powers they need to “drive growth and raise living standards”.
Will there be trouble ahead?
The District Councils’ Network, an umbrella group for such councils, opposes the plans. It says past reorganisations have provided “little evidence” that taxpayers’ money will be saved.
Vice-chair Hannah Dalton said the “creation of mega councils” could prove “the opposite of devolution”.
She also warned that the reorganisation could spark a “period of turmoil that will prevent councils from focusing on the local services that drive new homes and jobs and reduce pressure on the NHS.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said Rayner’s announcement is part of a plan to “strip councils of their powers” and to impose reorganisation from Westminster “without local consent”.
The party recognises that more homes must be built, but these must be “in the right place.”
“This new announcement will do nothing to solve that – and instead open up another front on Labour’s assault on the countryside.”
Previous government policy was not to create Unitaries (now called Strategic Authorities) without the testing the will of the people. Don’t remember seeing any form of consultation in Rayner’s announcement.
I have known Tim Oliver for years, going back to when he was a Councillor on Elmbridge Borough Council. He has wanted a single council for all of Surrey even before he became leader of Surrey County Council. Back when he was an Elmbridge Borough Councillor a proposal was made to amalgamate Elmbridge & Spelthorne (I don’t know which Council or Councillors made the proposal but Tim Oliver & the Tory party leading Elmbridge at the time was in favour) it went to a referendum and the Resident Group Councillors who were the 2nd largest group on Elmbridge along with the couple of Lib Dem Elmbridge Councillors and the Labour group on Spelthorne Council campaigned against the amalgamation. The Residents at the referendum voted against the proposal and it never happened.
The current proposal from the Labour government which is backed by Tim Oliver is not good news for anyone who lives in Waverley. To use similar wording as our current MP Jeremy Hunt will the amalgamation of all Surrey Borough and District councils into Surrey mean Waverley & Guildford residents bailing out Woking which is a technically bankrupt council. To add to that will this amalgamation also mean Waverley residents also assisting Spelthorne Council who themselves are very close to being technically bankrupt (based on information from a Spelthorne resident).
This reorganisation is undemocratic. Everyone with a brain knows it will end up costing 4 times as much as the current system. More sucking up of our well earned money by people who think they know better. Everyone knows it will cost triple what they say and will lead to less choices for the actual residents in these local councils. Whatever happened to local democracy and popping in to your local town hall or at least emailing them in the nearest large town. These ideas people should be ashamed of themselves. Now we have to start another wearisome campaign just to stand still. Shameless behaviour.