District councils are prepared to engage with local government reorganisation but warn against ‘rigidly insisting’ on a minimum population of 500,000, according to the District Councils’ Network (DCN).
A DCN survey of over 100 district councils found that 79% were not opposed to the principle of reorganisation. However, only 15% supported the idea of a unitary authority with a population of 500,000, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s preferred minimum population size.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of the respondents said that a unitary authority covering less than 300,000 residents would best suit their area, while 20% preferred 300-350,000 and 18% 350-400,000.
The DCN argues that unitary authorities with over 500,000 people – or ‘mega councils’ – risk overriding local identities and could limit the ability of regions and towns and cities to drive growth.
‘District councils strive to do what is right for their local communities. In many cases their judgement is that this means they should engage with proposals for local government reorganisation,’ said DCN chairman Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen.
‘However, district councils overwhelmingly believe that new unitary councils should remain close to communities and be smaller than the mega councils proposed in the English Devolution White Paper.’
‘Rigidly insisting on a minimum population of half a million is counter-productive,’ he added.
