Local government reorganisation poses a threat to front line services and represents the ‘opposite of devolution’, district council leaders have warned in response to the Budget.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday confirmed plans for unitarisation, which were revealed exclusively by The MJ earlier this week.
The Budget Red Book confirmed the English Devolution White Paper would set out plans to work with councils to move towards ‘simpler structures’ to make ‘efficiency savings.’
Responding to the announcement, the District Councils’ Network (DCN) said reorganisation ‘poses a threat to district councils…which face being merged into larger unitary councils.’
DCN chair Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen said the wholesale reorganisation of local government is ‘the last thing the country and our local communities need.’
‘It would be a huge distraction that would risk paralysing the delivery of local services in large parts of the country for the rest of the parliament.’
He added: ‘Imposing top-down reorganisation and abolishing district councils would move power away from local communities and would be the opposite to devolution.
‘Compared to many other countries, England already proportionately has far fewer councils, each typically covering far more people. A top-down reorganisation would make us even more of an outlier, with even more powers being held far from local people.’
