Leicestershire’s seven district and borough councils have said they have “serious concerns” over the possible creation of a single authority for Leicestershire. In a joint statement, the authority leaders said they fear just having one council for the county as a whole has the potential to be “too remote” and “inaccessible” for communities.
If the scheme being considered for Leicestershire goes ahead, it would mean the end of district and borough councils locally. It follows announcements by the Government last month that it wants all areas of the country to be streamlined to unitary authorities which would then be granted additional powers and potentially cash in a process known as devolution.
In Leicestershire currently, there is a two-tier system, with the district and county councils sharing responsibilities. Under the devolution proposals, Rutland County Council could also join with Leicestershire, but this is yet to be decided. Current expectations are that Leicester City Council, already a unitary authority, would remain separate and could have its borders expanded.
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However, district and borough leaders are claiming that an announcement released by Leicestershire County Council last night (Thursday, January 9) setting out the possible approach locally was issued “without notice and without consultation”. A spokeswoman for Leicestershire County Council said the county authority had met with them “all” this week to advise what the proposal would be. She added the council “will continue to work with them to submit proposals to the Government”. The council also said it was requesting this year’s elections be postponed to allow the plans to be developed.
The leaders of Blaby District Council, Charnwood Borough Council, Harborough District Council, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, Melton Borough Council, North West Leicestershire District Council and Oadby and Wigston Borough Council also said they are concerned about that announced approach.
They said: “As local leaders we are closest to our communities and have a responsibility to ensure local voices are heard and properly considered in any reorganisation of local government. A single unitary council over a wide and diverse geographic area, which is being proposed without proper consultation, has the potential to be too remote, and inaccessible, from the communities we serve. We must keep the local in local government.
“As leaders we acknowledge the government’s white paper sets a clear direction of travel, but it must be properly considered, evidence-led and ensure that residents and businesses are fully engaged in shaping the future local government of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. We are open to exploring all options, but have not agreed any boundary changes, and are clear that any changes must be based on evidence which gets the right balance between scale and physical geography. Any boundary changes would also have to be limited and balanced. Councils perform best when boundaries reflect the way people live their lives.
“We believe there are credible alternatives to a large single unitary, which will facilitate a better sense of place, deliver savings, boost regional growth and provide better outcomes for our residents and businesses.
“We want to work collaboratively with all our local authority partners to agree how best to reshape local government within our area. We have written to government to confirm that we are keen to work with them and that we expect our propositions to be taken seriously. There is simply too much at stake to have a change railroaded through.”
Two of the local leaders, Phil Knowles at Harborough District Council, and Samia Haq at Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, went a step further, pledging to “fight tooth and nail” to ensure the Government “listens and understands the value of local communities”.
There must be a “meaningful discussion” on proposals and residents and communities must be able to “have a voice” and be “at the heart of” the changes, they added. They said: “We are not against change, but cancelling elections and not giving residents a voice is clearly showing no respect for our residents and voters.”
“We are very clear that the Harborough district and Oadby and Wigston borough are not broken,” they added. “We deliver valuable services and have on-going plans to continually improve and transform our services for our residents and local communities.”