Warwickshire elections back on after county’s devolution fast-track blow

By Andy Mitchell,

Local Democracy Reporter

WARWICKSHIRE County Council elections will go ahead in May after proposals to fast-track a new unitary authority were turned down by the government.

County council leader Councillor Izzi Seccombe OBE (Con, Stour & the Vale) took the politically-led decision to request that Warwickshire be among the frontrunners in national plans to abolish its two levels of local government – a county council above district and borough councils – to form one new authority.

Reform is still set to happen, whether that is based on Warwickshire’s current footprint or alternatives that districts and boroughs may come forward with, but seemingly with a target date of full rollout by April 2028, a year later than it would have been had Cllr Seccombe’s vision been taken forward.

There were 18 applications for the first wave, many from county councils but including a couple of smaller unitary areas that wish to come together.

Priority has been given to areas moving towards directly-elected mayors as opposed to Warwickshire’s wish to stick with a leader and cabinet set-up.

The most meaningful element is that the county elections in May will go ahead, meaning the current crop of councillors at Shire Hall will all face ballots. If Warwickshire had been accepted, they would have remained in situ until the new authority took charge in April 2027.

It will be a boon for political opponents, some of whom accused the ruling Conservative group at Shire Hall of attempting to duck elections on the back of the significant political change seen in district and borough elections in recent years.

Cllr Seccombe herself described as “disappointed”, noting that 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. It is down to all of us to make sure everyone feels they are making a valued contribution.”

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 working as unitaries by 2028.

“I would have preferred to get on with the work that we know we have to do,” Cllr Seccombe continued.

“We’ll go with the timeframe we have been given but it all needs doing.

“Listening to (deputy prime minister) Angela Rayner’s reasons for delaying elections in the areas where that has happened, they were pretty much what I had laid out. It is not about a lack of democracy, it is about making sure the work is dealt with and done within the timeframe.

“We will move on to elections but we still need to get on with this. The challenge will be that we have six councils that perhaps all have their own view of what local government reform might look like.”