Lincoln councillors will debate whether to reject proposals for a single Lincolnshire-wide authority next week. The Liberal Democrat motion says “decisions affecting Lincoln should be taken in Lincoln”.
The government has proposed a national shake-up which could see the county’s eight authorities replaced with just one, claiming it would streamline services and potentially save £2 billion. However local leaders have been divided on the issue so far.
The motion put forward by Councillor James Brown (Lib Dem) will ask councillors to reject a so-called “mega council”. It states: “Lincoln is a historic seat of democracy, with the UK’s oldest parliamentary constituency and a mayoralty that has existed for over 800 years.
“This history would be lost in a mega-council, county-wide unitary. Whilst the current two-tier system presents some challenges, the solution does not lie in the creation of vast and remote mega-councils that would diminish local voices and accountability.”
It says that any local government reorganisation should reflect local communities’ needs and not “top-down imposition”. The motion will call on council leader Naomi Tweddle (Labour) to inform the Secretary of State for Local Government that Lincoln doesn’t want to be part of a unitary authority.
Lincolnshire currently has a two-tier system, with the “upper-tier” Lincolnshire County Council managing the roads, education and social services. Meanwhile, the seven district and borough councils deal with local issues such as bin collections, housing and planning.
Lincoln’s Labour group partly responded to the government announcement sceptically, saying there wasn’t evidence that bigger councils would be more effective or efficient.
However Conservative group leader Tom Dyer expressed enthusiasm, saying: “The two-tier system of local government is outdated and unnecessarily complicates local democracy.
“It creates confusion for residents and leads to duplication of efforts across Lincolnshire.”
Authorities are being asked to submit proposals for how local government could be reorganised in the next few months. The motion will be debated at a full City of Lincoln Council meeting on Tuesday, January 21.