Summary
The pause affecting Gloucestershire’s local government shake-up should be used to look at another option which would keep a council for each of the county’s six “very different” areas. That is the view of a former council leader after the Government announced earlier this month it has paused the local government reorganisation in the county.
Details
Ministers are conducting a review of the decisions made in July which affect 14 areas including Gloucestershire. They had chosen a single unitary council as the option for the county , which would see the six district authorities merged with Gloucestershire County Council.
However, the Forest of Dean District Council voted against all the options which were considered including the single council option and two different proposals to split the county into two unitary authorities. And its former leader Tim Gwilliam (Progressive Independents, Berry Hill) believes the current pause in the process is an opportunity to re-think what option is best for the county.
This could be a combined authority for Gloucestershire which would see a unitary council for each of the districts work strategically together for the whole county, potentially with an elected mayor, he said. “Since the Government paused the local government reorganisation (LGR) process, I’ve felt we should use that pause to do something more than simply sit back and wait to be told what happens next,” he said.
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“When we went through the original LGR process, councils were effectively given a range of options around devolution and different forms of unitary authority. Forest of Dean District Council was prepared to say ‘none of the above’ because we didn’t believe the options being put in front of us were right for our communities.
“But what we never really got the chance to properly consider was whether there is another route altogether.
“Could Gloucestershire have a combined or strategic authority which keeps our existing district, borough and city councils, but gives the county a genuine strategic voice, with devolved powers, funding and potentially a mayor, with an executive committee made up of the leaders of each of our district, borough and city council, dealing directly with Government?
“I’ve been convinced for some time that this is something we should at least investigate. We seem to have been so focused on the argument about LGR that we haven’t given enough attention to the other half of the conversation – devolution – which could potentially bring real benefits to the communities we represent. “The six councils across Gloucestershire are very different.
Report source: Gloucestershire Live
