Local Government Reform - Devolution
January 2025
On the 16th December 2024, the Government published a White Paper* with proposals to ‘streamline’ processes and ‘save’ money by merging the duties of District and County Councils - effectively scrapping District Councils. The Government has said that it expects all two-tier areas to develop proposals for their mergers.
They expect all Councils in an area to ‘work together to develop unitary proposals’, take a ‘proactive and innovative approach to neighbourhood involvement and community governance so that citizens feel empowered’ whilst ‘strengthening expectations on engagement and community voice’. None of these expectations has yet been discussed by Warwickshire County Council with their District Councils colleagues.
This is not the first time such proposals have been made. Three previous attempts have been made to form unitary councils. Indeed, Michael Heseltine was the author of a report in 2012** which sought to cut government spending by introducing changes which had a lot in common with the current unitary proposals.
The Government expects savings, but experience from other Councils that have been through this process shows that reorganisation costs are considerable with no reliable, unequivocal evidence that mergers lead to cost savings.
‘Bigger is not guaranteed to be cheaper, more efficient or more effective; it is only guaranteed to be bigger, more anonymous and out of touch with communities’ say professors of Local Government Copus and Leach***.
Councils are not just service delivery bodies - they help shape communities and are an essential part of a healthy local democracy. Local democracy works most effectively when there is a strong community identity. A new, more remote, larger council with fewer councillors per head of population carries a risk that this link will be lost. Any replacement has to be carefully designed.
There is a danger that District Council discretionary services of importance to residents are put at risk. Indeed, since SDC has financial reserves, we could see these funds redeployed to cover cost pressures across the County. The County Council itself has considerable financial pressures.
The Government has said that they are prepared to allow a postponement of the County Council elections due in May 2025, but only where there is a clear commitment to both devolution and reorganisation and their criteria on consultation. It is important that any work to consider the future size and shape of local government is not rushed. Unitary councils, if properly designed, can be a useful way forward, but they need careful consideration and consultation and may differ from the current WCC proposal.
It is important to ensure that decisions are made closer to the local people, communities and businesses they affect. Devolution, if it is to work properly, must provide greater freedoms and flexibilities at a local level. Councils have to be able to work more effectively to improve public services in partnership with public, private and community leaders in their local areas.
We need to ensure that any new model for our region is locally led and widely supported. Any new arrangements must remain local and connected to local communities. We have to keep the ‘local’ in local government. It is absolutely vital that this process is collaborative and does not become a damaging distraction, undermine democracy or harm critical public services.
*https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-devolution-white-paper-power-and-partnership-foundations-for-growth
**No Stone Unturned: In Pursuit of Growth - Lord Heseltine 2012,
***Emeritus Professors of Local Government and Local Politics at De Montfort University
