A GROUP of Essex district council leaders has warned the Government against plans to remove them from decision-making reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
For over two years, Essex councils have been discussing a possible “devolution deal,” in which some limited powers and budgets from the Government would be handed down to Essex.
Under the Level 2 deal, Essex County Council, Southend-on-Sea City Council, and Thurrock Council will not merge. Each authority would remain independent but make collective decisions about the power and budget given to them by the Government.
However, representatives of Essex County Council, Thurrock Council, and Southend Council would be the only people with votes on the combined authority as the oversight board.
Under the combined authority, Essex’s 12 city, district, and borough councils would have a voice but no voting rights.
This has led to concerns, with eight leaders of district councils run by Lib Dems and independents writing to the minister for local government to ask him to ensure that district councils are not frozen out of plans for the way public services are run in future but have not had a reply.
The letter said: “From the platform, you acknowledged that there is a flaw in the current devolution arrangements, whereby only “upper tier” authorities are involved in devolution discussions, even though some district-tier councils are larger.
“This is very much the case in Essex. Colchester has the second-largest population of all the non-metropolitan districts in England. Basildon borough is third, and Chelmsford city is fifth largest.
“We are all just under 200,000 population, larger than both the unitary authorities in Essex (Southend and Thurrock), and are forecast to surpass that number within the duration of our current local plans.
“Other districts within Essex contain strategic assets, like London’s third airport, a freeport, areas of special scientific interest and one of the proposed sites for a new nuclear power station.
“District councils are the local planning authorities. They are thus directly responsible for the growth agenda and fundamental to placemaking. We are close to our communities but would not have a vote if a combined authority comes into being.”
Across Essex, four district councils – Chelmsford, Brentwood, Colchester and Rochford are led by Liberal Democrats and four by independents – Tendring, Uttlesford, Castle Point and Maldon.
Lib Dem Leader of Chelmsford City Council Councillor Stephen Robinson – who organised the joint letter – said: “I am disappointed that we have not heard back from the minister.”
He added: “We are concerned that the new Government may not be that different from the old one in terms of actually listening to the views of residents and their local councils.
“The populations of Chelmsford and Colchester are larger than Southend and Thurrock, but they will have a voice and vote, and we won’t.
“This is despite the fact that districts are responsible for the economic and housing growth that the Government says they want to see.”
The warnings comes amid speculation about the possibility of Essex County Council and the 12 districts being abolished and reformed into what are called unitary authorities – a single-tier system combining the functions of a district and county council.
Advocates for the change say it will save money, but Councillor Robinson has hit out at those claims, arguing that reorganisation will cost significant sums to put thousands of council staff into new jobs.
Councillor Robinson added: “For residents of Chelmsford to have one council, rather than the city and county councils, would be clearer about who is responsible for what.
“But if the Government is going to force these changes upon us, they need to fund it properly.
“Otherwise, there will be huge disruption and cost to local taxpayers, and public services will get worse.
“Moreover, neither combined authorities or council reorganisations will address the fundamental problem for local councils
“Homelessness, children’s special needs services and adult social care are all struggling, following rising demand and slashed Government funding to councils over the last 10 years.
“The Government needs to address that issue rather than moving deckchairs on the Titanic.”
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said Councillor Robinson will be receiving a reply in due course.
He said: “As part of the biggest-ever transfer of power from Westminster to the British people, we are working with local leaders across England to deliver the most ambitious programme of devolution this country has ever seen.
“District councils play an important role in ensuring the success of devolution in their area, and we expect effective levels of collaboration between authorities to capitalise on the opportunities it brings.”
This feels a lot like the Thames Gateway system, which I believe was shut down in 2010(?), where big brother make all the decisions as Local councils are not ‘good enough’ to do it themselves.
As I (seem to remember) it cost a lot of money, and while it achieved some of its aims, it become too big and cumbersome to be flexible enough to do its job properly