Decision day looms for proposed merger of Stratford and Warwick councils
THE clock is ticking on radical plans to merge Stratford and Warwick district councils.
A decision has to be made by the end of the year if the pair are going to put a bid to government for a South Warwickshire District Council to start by a target date of 1st April, 2024.
Stratford District Council will hold an extraordinary Cabinet meeting today (Thursday, 9th December), followed by a full council meeting on Monday, 13th December, with Warwick holding equivalent meetings on the same dates.
The councils issued a statement yesterday highlighting the historic nature of the proposal which, if backed, would go to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, headed by Michael Gove.
SDC leader Cllr Tony Jefferson said: “Since the beginning of the year, additional research and evidence has been collected to enable both councils to now consider whether we wish to make a formal submission to the DLUHC to create this new entity.
“This is probably the most significant decision that either council has had to consider since they were established in 1974. We have to take this decision recognising that the world has changed massively since 1974. It is now up to us to make the right decision based on the information presented to us.”
The two have been working closely together in recent months as part of a way of responding to the financial impact of Covid but also in response to the stand-off that emerged in Warwickshire last year about the possibility of unitary authorities being introduced in the county.
At that point the county council jumped in and argued it should be a single, unitary authority based on an expert report, while the five district and borough councils responded with their own, expert report which, remarkably, back their view of a two-unitary solution, with Stratford and Warwick making up a South Warwickshire and Rugby, Nuneaton & Bedworth and North Warwickshire, forming the other.
This current approach is not to create a unitary council - which would mean taking over those services run by the county - but would bring the services of the two district councils together as one.
Even bringing the existing councils together is not straightforward, with decisions to be taken on how that new council operates, where it will operate from - it will undoubtedly not be at the existing HQ buildings - how many councillors there will be etc.
Since the idea of merger became clearer at the start of the year, these numerous issues have been aired, a variety of consultations have been carried out and all this will be put before the councillors, starting on Monday.
Cllr Andrew Day, Leader of Warwick District Council said: “It’s encouraging to see that our residents and other stakeholders do see the need for change and clearly support the proposals to merge our Councils. This positive feedback underlines the importance of working together to continue to improve our services in a fiscally responsible way.”
Though the report suggests there is widespread belief that the councils need to do something, his suggestion that people 'clearly support' the plan does not reflect a universal view - the report documents some strong opposition in Warwick district.
One strand of the consultation was a questionnaire and this had 1,633 responses, higher than the telephone research that was carried out with 613 residents.
Looking at the questionnaires, 44 per cent of people who responded from Stratford district said they were against the merger but in Warwick district that was 64 per cent - on the smaller telephone survey, the equivalent figures were 31 per cent and 32 per cent.
Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western has also been a fierce critic of the merger plan, calling it a power grab by two Conservative councils and asking for a referendum to take place.
The report going to the to councils highlights government opposition to the idea of a referendum but identifies the views of residents, staff, town and parish councils, neighbouring councils, bodies such as Shakespeare's England - and more.
Intriguingly the county council responded to the consultation by saying: "Warwickshire County Council feels that once a submission about the merger is made to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, this will lead the Secretary of State to trigger a review of local government structures across the whole of Warwickshire. Consequently, it fully expects the Secretary of State to initiate a consultation on local government reform in Warwickshire. As such, it is considered more appropriate for Warwickshire County Council to engage when the Secretary of State consults with it following Stratford-on-Avon and Warwick’s proposals for merger."
So while the odds are the plans for a merged district council will go forward, this is likely to be the beginning not the end of the story. SDC's cabinet kicks things off at 3.30pm on Thursday at Elizabeth House, Warwick then meets at 6pm
