Local government reorganisation is paused, but some councils are determined to see the initiative scrapped completely.
District councils in Leicestershire are the latest to demand new unitary authorities across England be scrapped before they have officially been formed. Downing Street is currently in the process of reorganising a long list of local governments, with many smaller entities set to be absorbed into larger authority areas, some of which are being newly created.
The district councils of Blaby, Harborough, and North West Lincolnshire — all of which are led by the Conservative Party — have co-signed a letter of objection to the existing plan, which would see them dismantled.
Leicestershire as a whole would switch from 10 councils to two expansive local authorities, with Leicester City Council absorbing areas on the edge of the built-up area, and Rutland taking in the remainder of the county’s constituencies.
Almost 40,000 people have now signed in opposition to this, with support for the campaign also coming from Liberal Democrat-run Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. However, proponents argue more people would have a say in how Labour-controlled Leicester is run and developed, with the Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby estimated 250,000 more voters would be empowered to have a say in operations within the updated city limits.
‘We think the government is going down the wrong path with this and we are willing to look at taking this to judicial review,’ Stuart Bray, Hinckley and Bosworth council leader, told BBC News. ‘The public don’t want this. It’s a stitch-up done in the Labour club and so much money and time has already been used up by this.’
Image: Luca Vavassori / Unsplash
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