Unitary Authorities and Devolution
A major shake up of local government is on the cards and I wanted to share the detail with you.
Just before Xmas the Government issued a White Paper proposing ‘devolution’ and ‘unitary authorities’ across England. In Gloucestershire we are currently the only area within the West of England to have ‘two tier’ councils i.e. a county council responsible for certain things like roads and social care and a district council responsible for things like bin collections and planning. Under those are parish/town councils who look after functions in their area like village greens, playgrounds and cemeteries.
The Government has proposed that all parts of England will move to ‘unitary’ councils – one council carrying out all the functions which our current county and district councils do. This would happen by 2028 latest.
It would mean that the current county and district councils are abolished and are replaced with a unitary authority. At the time of writing there are two options for this being mooted:
- a) a county wide Gloucestershire unitary council
- b) two unitary councils: East Gloucestershire and West Gloucestershire.
The benefit of one Gloucestershire-wide council is that it is simpler, you have less staff and less councillors but it is more remote from people and very big. A smaller unitary council would be closer to people but would need to divide services between it and the other one.
The Leader of the County Council has expressed a desire to delay the 2025 County Council elections and has written to the Government to request that. However, five of the six district councils in Gloucestershire are opposed to delaying the elections – personally I see no practical reason for it and am very keen that local democracy is not disrupted.
However, what is clear is that:
Gloucestershire will have new councils in the next few years. Whatever your personal feelings on that, it seems sensible to take a practical approach to the reality of the situation. Gloucestershire will be grouped in with other Unitary Authorities to become a regional area that would then support an elected Mayor.
Quite what b) will look like is, as yet, unknown. One possible grouping is Glos, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Another is with Oxfordshire or the West of England.
The impact of this on Parish and Town Councils is likely to be very significant. In areas which have a unitary council, parishes have often taken on extra responsibilities like street lighting, some highways functions and public toilets. This comes with opportunities and challenges.
At present things are moving very quickly and so it is not clear exactly what will happen. Timelines, potential groupings of unitary authorities – they are all up in the air.
The most important thing is that any new council is efficient, sufficiently close to residents and has simple and easy to understand structures so that we all can deal with it as easily as possible when we need to.
Do let me know if you have any questions – I’ll update you further as things become clearer.
Cllr Paul Hodgkinson
(GCC, Bourton and Northleach Division)
FB: PaulForCotswolds
14th January 2025