This week (Monday 16 December) the Government released its English Devolution White Paper, which includes proposals to extend combined authorities to cover the whole country and proposals for the reorganisation of local government.
Under the reforms launched, two-tier council areas will be abolished, and every region of England will be covered by new “strategic authorities”, similar to the regions which currently have elected regional mayors.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s white paper includes proposals to create these “strategic authorities” in order to “avoid duplication and give our cities and regions a bigger voice”.
The government proposals state the expectation for all two-tier council areas and smaller or failing unitaries to develop proposals for reorganisation.
This will mean the creation of new unitary (single tier) councils with populations of 500,000 or more.
Leader of Lichfield District Council Councillor Doug Pullen said:
“Lichfield District Council recognises the government’s ambition and supports the devolution of greater powers to local level and the simplification of local government structures.
“However, we want to ensure through this proposal that local government remains close, relevant to and accountable to the communities it serves.
“Our residents and businesses are at the heart of everything we do. We will continue to see the best outcomes for those communities and to ensure these proposals help achieve our ambitions for them.
He added:
“Through our Being a Better Council improvement programme, we are already saving £1.7m per year to focus on providing the best service and ensure we deliver to our residents.
“Over the last 12 months we have transformed how we serve our residents through digital investment, as well as developed and rolled out one of the most generous Council Tax Reduction Schemes in the country, offering 100% reduction to customers on the lowest incomes.
“Our Disabled Facilities Grant team have awarded just over £1.9m across 227 disabled adaptations including stairlifts, level access showers, hoists, ramps and even extension works.
“We have also made huge strides to shape a district for the future through our regeneration works, demolishing the old multi storey car park to make way for the new city centre developments; turning our leisure centres into community assets and being one of the first district councils in the country to adopt and enforce a design code.”
Lichfield District Council accepts there is a case for structural reform, as long as this is done in a way that creates strong localised delivery units.
We are keen to work with the Government to develop local proposals that are ambitious and effective ensuring new unitary councils are genuinely local, democratically accountable and focused on delivering what matters to our residents and businesses.