Local Government Reorganisation and Devolution

The government is implementing by far the biggest shake-up of local government in over 50 years. The aim is to abolish the two-tier system of county and district councils replacing them instead with larger unitary authorities to combine and deliver all local public services.

Before being elected to government in the 2024 general election, the Labour Party included a commitment to introduce devolution in its manifesto, but did not directly mention local government reorganisation (LGR). Although the two are linked, they are two separate entities.

Devolution

Devolution is the creation of new county or area mayors, such as those that currently exist in London, Manchester and the West Midlands. Certain powers are then devolved from government for them to oversee and deliver locally. These powers typically include transport, spatial planning, skills and economic development, but will depend upon each areas specific deal with government.

The new mayors will head a combined authority encompassing the newly created unitary councils in the county or wider area.  Some would argue this is recreating the two-tier system but the combined authorities will only be strategic bodies and so will not deliver any services: this being the role of the unitary councils. The combined authorities will have several commissioners/officers and possibly deputy mayors, most likely taken from the unitary councils although some will be directly employed, to focus on specific areas such as health delivery or spatial planning.

Councils on the devolution priority list include Greater Essex, Sussex, Leicestershire, Cheshire, Cumberland, Hampshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Westmoreland and Furness. Although mayoral elections were due to take place here this year, they have now been postponed until 2028. This is to allow for the unitary councils to be elected and to become established.

Devolution was a key policy during the last Labour government but had been abandoned due to a lack of enthusiasm. The last Conservative government resurrected a form of the strategy and pushed ahead with some regional mayors and combined authorities. One of the main motivations was COVID when the government found that trying to deal with some 382 council leaders was difficult. Dealing with some 30-40 regional mayors instead would have been far simpler and more efficient.

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)

The creation of unitary authorities will bring all council services under one roof, replacing county, city, borough, district and existing unitary councils. The aim is to make the system more efficient, effective, transparent and, most importantly in the current economic climate, more cost -effective.  It has long been accepted that the existing two-tier system needed reform. There have been several unitary and combined authorities created over the years, but with varying degrees of success.

Those on the devolution priority list, mentioned earlier, will have unitary elections in 2027. The new unitary councils will operate in ‘shadow’ for a year before being ‘vested’ in 2028, at which point the current councils, as they exist today, will be abolished.  Surrey is slightly different in that it will have unitary elections this year, taking over in 2027.

After considerable debate, the priority areas submitted their business plans for the number of unitary councils in their area in September last year. The government announced the final configurations in March.  Surrey is ahead of the curve with the government deciding the 12 existing councils will be replaced by two unitary councils.  The 15 existing councils in Essex will be replaced by five unitary councils.

Those councils not on the priority list are certainly not off the hook as they had to make their proposal submissions in November, with consultation on their proposals happening in the spring of this year. The government decisions expected in July.

The government is determined to have completed LGR by the next general election.