Devolution Diaries: Councils Face the Unitary Decision
Six weeks on from the government’s announcement about the devolution priority programme we are creeping closer to the point at which the participating councils need to submit their plans for local government reform in the six two tier areas that have been included. Elsewhere other county councils and their colleagues in the district councils are also working hard on plans for unitary councils. The process is drawing out similar suggestions, and arguments, around the country.
On Thursday and Friday last week (13th and 14th March) district council leaders and senior officers across the country met up in Winsor for the annual get together of the members of the District Councils’ Network. The DCN Conference is always a well attended affair and this year it there was a larger crowd than ever. The organisers boasted that it was the biggest DCN conference they had ever held and it certainly felt that way with a packed conference hall during the day and an equally busy bar in the evening.
Local Government Reorganisation was the talk of the conference and there was no shortage of substance for attendees to chew over. Local government minister Jim McMahon was one of the first speakers and he set out the government’s stall on reorganisation very clearly. Councils will be required to submit proposals for new unitaries as we knew. The population figure of 500,000 is still the ideal number for the government but the minister did suggest that this could be an average which gave hope to some attendees that in certain circumstances smaller unitary authorities could be created.
In a wide ranging speech the minister repeatedly suggested to council leaders that what they didn’t want was to have him making the decisions, or drawing lines on a map, for them. As threats go, attendees didn’t see this one as being particularly veiled. Local government reorganisation is happening and the current council leaders can either help to shape the new council areas or the government will impose the new structures on them.
This week councils in the priority areas will be sending their ideas for new unitary councils into government. In the areas outside the priority programme plans for new unitary authorities are also being drawn up in preparation for the future rounds of reorganisation that will swiftly follow. In all the areas there are competing ideas for what the new councils should look like. The split is generally between county councils favouring larger councils and the districts proposing smaller units.
The proponents of the larger authorities are pointing to the economies of scale that the larger councils can bring and are highlighting how difficult it will be to disaggregate complex services like adult social care and children’s services.
Those arguing for a greater number of smaller unitary councils argue for the benefits of having councils that are more rooted in place and contend that there are workable solutions for achieving savings and managing those services currently run by county councils.
Of the current county councils in the priority programme, only East Sussex has the right population for forming a unitary council that aligns with the government’s figure of 500,000. In all the other counties there will either need to be a compelling case put forward to create a council far larger than 500,000 residents or some chopping up will have to be done.
My colleagues have Cratus have been detailing what’s happening in specific areas and we’ll soon get some indications of what the councils will look like.
