New authorities in Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk, Suffolk have been shelved, costing the taxpayer millions.
Downing Street has confirmed that after months of negotiations, legal wrangling and regional challenges, the proposed overhaul of several existing local authorities will no longer go ahead as planned. In total, plans to change how 18 areas of England are administered are being shelved following ‘updated and privileged’ legal advice, although reorganisation in Surrey will continue as planned.
Smaller councils in counties including Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk were due to be absorbed into new larger unitary authorities. A move that has proved highly controversial with town, city and county halls, threatened to derail this year’s local elections and led critics to question the reorganisation’s legality on the grounds of impeding democratic processes.
Rather than pressing on to implement the model designed to ‘streamline’ local governance, this week the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government confirmed a review would now take place to make sure any changes are ‘robust’ and ‘align with new government priorities. Although many regional politicians have welcomed the pause, many have also pointed out that millions have been spent from the public purse on plans which may never come to fruition.
‘The Prime Minister wants every local area to be armed with the powers he enjoyed as Greater Manchester Mayor, while further financial resources are coming their way soon with the Chancellor today confirming he will set out a roadmap to fiscal devolution at the Budget,’ said Laura Hughes, Partner and Head of Public law at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson. ‘[It is] probably unachievable to run LGR and devolution streams in tandem. It therefore felt somewhat inevitable that local government reorganisation would be deprioritised.
‘Government’s reluctance to publicly disclose information relating to legal claims that are in motion or threatened by the 14 areas where LGR decisions were recently made pointed to a nervousness in Westminster about how those decisions were made,’ she continued. ‘The emphasis on ‘privileged’ legal advice being given to government suggests that today’s announcement reflects a decision based on legal risk.’
Image: Paul Marlow / Unsplash
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