By local democracy reporter Aled Thomas
Debate is raging in council offices (and local newspapers) across the country, including in Wiltshire about how councils should proceed with the government’s offer of more powers to local authorities.
How will it work?
Top-tier local authorities are being asked to partner with neighbouring authorities to form larger areas which will then have a strategic authority. These strategic authorities will have more powers than are currently allowed to English regions outside the major cities and metropolitan areas.
The government wants to roll out those powers across the whole of England.
The proposed reforms only apply to England, and not to Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The new strategic authorities should aim to have a population of at least 1.5 million people, and they should be formed by partnerships of existing authorities which are geographically connected, so they form one sensible, linked, economic area.
The new authorities will have increased powers on subjects such as: transport and local infrastructure, skills and employment support, housing and strategic planning, economic development and regeneration, environment and climate change, and health, wellbeing and public service reform.
Current duties such as social work and care, running libraries, maintaining roads and collecting bins and handling rubbish and recycling would remain with the existing constituent authorities.
It is anticipated that the majority of new strategic authorities would have elected mayors.
Is this a merger?
It is not a merger. Wiltshire Council will continue with all the powers they have now. The strategic authority that is created will have powers that County Hall does not already have.
The new strategic authority might have a directly elected Mayor, in the fashion of London or Greater Manchester of the West Midlands, but there would be no other elected body making up the authority. Committees would be staffed by elected members of the constituent councils.
This is similar to the structure of policing now. Wiltshire and Swindon share a directly elected Police & Crime Commissioner – but he is answerable to a committee made up of councillors from Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Council, not another elected body.
There may be impact on lower-tier councils
The government has said that the creation of another higher tier of local or regional government might mean that district councils, such as Cotswold District Council in Gloucestershire, and Oxfordshire’s lower tier, including the Vale of the White Horse and West Oxfordshire district councils, may be abolished.
This would not affect either Swindon or Wiltshire, which are both unitary authorities, and the parish councils in both areas are not subject to any re-organisation as part of this proposed reform.
