‘More time to examine alternatives’ after Warwickshire’s fast-track devolution blow

WARWICKSHIRE’S bid to be in the first wave of local government reorganisation suffered a blow yesterday (Wednesday) when it was not included in the government’s fast-track scheme.

The county council has been enthusiastically pursuing the chance to be at the front of the queue for devolution which would have paved the way for a new council to replace the county, borough and district councils, including Stratford District Council.

It would also have meant delaying this May’s county council elections.

However, Angela Rayner, the housing, communities and local government secretary, announced in Parliament that six areas would be included in the first tranche of changes – and Warwickshire was not among them. The areas chosen were: Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, Greater Essex, Hampshire and Solent, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Some areas also had their council elections delayed by a year: East Sussex and West Sussex, Essex and Thorough, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and Norfolk and Suffolk

Ms Rayner told the House of Commons: “These places will get a fast-track ticket to drive real change in their area. While devolution can sound techie, the outcome is simple. It’s a plan for putting more money in people’s pockets.

“It’s a plan for quicker, better, cheaper transport, designed with local people in mind. A plan for putting politics back in the service of working people.”

The county council was one of 18 applicants for the first wave of devolution. Its exclusion does not mean changes are not coming to Warwickshire, but it does mean there will be more time to explore how the county will look in the future.

Ms Rayner added: “Councillors of all types, including district councillors, tell me the two-tier system isn’t working. So alongside our wider reforms, this government is committed to making simpler, more efficient and clearer structures so that residents can access good public services without eye-watering price tags. These kinds of reforms won’t happen overnight. But we're determined to deliver fairer funding to end the postcode lotteries so that everyone gets the support from public services that they deserve. And that is why today, I will be issuing a legal invitation to all 21 two-tier areas to submit proposals for new unitary councils.

“Letters and the accompanying written statement will set out the requirements for these proposals. New unitary structures will be the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks.

“I am clear about the need for flexibility when reorganisation goes hand-in-hand with mayoral devolution and when coupled with ambitious plans for housing growth. So these proposals will be developed with effective local engagement and dovetailed devolution arrangements.”

Cllr Susan Juned (Lib Dem), leader of Stratford District Council, welcomed the extra time and opportunity to consult about the changes.

She told the Herald there will be more time to work with partners, including the county council, on the options and structures for Warwickshire’s future.

“We don’t want to cost people lots of money working on something that they don’t agree with,” she said. “We need to have local government that is local and serves the people.

“We also need to understand what is - and what isn’t - possible. There have been concerns about there being fewer councillors – they do good work and are the link between communities and local government and should be valued.”

Stratford District Council, as reported by the Herald last week, will be holding an extraordinary meeting next week to discuss the reorganisation of local government.

This will include examining other structures for local government, rather than a single authority for all of Warwickshire, which is favoured by the county council.

Stratford and Warwick councils have previously flirted with the idea of a merger, but Stratford was put off by Warwick’s debts - around £400m at the time which was borrowed to invest in development projects.

That courtship could be back on the cards as there are now questions about how large a unitary authority needs to be - population wise - to find government favour.

“There was guidance that the population size was around 500,000 people, but it’s my understanding that the minister has departed from that,” said Cllr Juned. “There may be some flexibility and we would like [the government] to work with us.”

Cllr Juned also pointed to the projected growth of south Warwickshire over the next five to 10 years as something which needed to also be taken into consideration.

She also wants more time to consider who would be the best strategic partners for the new-look county. The regional areas, such as the West Midlands Combined Authority, would have the spending clout for big infrastructure projects.

County council leader Cllr Izzi Seccombe (Con) made the political decision to put Warwickshire forward for the quickest timescale when the government asked for expressions of interest. While not in the first wave of new councils expected to come into force in 2027, the next batch would not be far behind – about a year later.

Cllr Seccombe’s rationale for moving quickly was that the matter had been considered in Warwickshire for some time, that a case for change had been developed in recent years and that the government would see the area as being “ready to go”.

Cllr Seccombe was “disappointed”, but said Warwickshire’s six largest councils would still have to get on with the work to deliver change, just over a longer timeframe.

“When these things come forward, you gear yourself up for this work,” she said. “I am a bit disappointed for the staff, we need to make sure our staff feel secure and I think it will make it quite difficult to recruit and retain.”

She vowed to “crack on” with the elections, reiterating her belief that having the right experience in place on the political side of things would have been beneficial, particularly given the “massively ambitious” will of the government to have all two-tier areas as unitaries by 2028.

“I would have preferred to get on with the work that we know we have to do,” she said.

Stratford District Council’s extraordinary full council meeting is on Monday (10th February) at 2pm at Elizabeth House. The meeting will be live streamed on the council’s YouTube channel.