Further devolution - a question asked by the BBC

[whole diary]

[grahame]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ejgyvdjxvo

The UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Government has invited local councils to submit proposals for further devolution.

It has asked for bids based on "sensible economic geographies", external and suggests councils come together to form combined authorities - potentially headed-up by an elected mayor.

If accepted, this would then see additional funding and more local or regional control over things like public transport, adult education, and housing.

But is the prospect of councils across the South West working together a realistic ambition?

Could they work together?   Would there be sufficient funding?  Would they have local expertise for regional working and how would it work across regions?   Do we have a model in WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) for some of this?

[ChrisB]

Local authority areas could easily be reorganised, and a national discussion about county/district councils much needed as they are rather antiquated - why not have one authority that does bin collections as well as transport, for example?

[stuving]

Local authority areas could easily be reorganised, and a national discussion about county/district councils much needed as they are rather antiquated - why not have one authority that does bin collections as well as transport, for example?

Which of course is what unitary authorities do. Some of the last two "discussions" on this subject should still be relevant - the Redcliffe-Maud report (never implemented) and the Local Government Commission for England's work after the Local Government Act 1992 (which did follow some of the same principles).

But I'm not sure about "easily" ...

[CyclingSid]

Wouldn't recommend Berkshire as an example to follow for Unitary Authorities. One of the reports https://www.lgbce.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-04/berkshire_final_report.pdf is still available on the LGBCE website. I think it can simply be said that Bracknell felt it was going to be run by or chopped up by Wokingham and Windsor and Maidenhead.

So we ended up with six local authjorities who largely appear not to speak to each other (on idealogical grounds?) which was a nightmare for Berkshire Health Authority to work with. There appear to be minimal shared services, separate IT systems, separate planning systems, separate highway authorities, none of which have the same level of expertise that there was at county level. Certainly does not appear to have saved money for the local tax payer.

Other developments since have made the situation more difficult, and less equitable?

[grahame]

So we ended up with six local authorities who largely appear not to speak to each other

Worries me too.   That comment got me looking / thinking about the two local authorities that make up the urban area of Melksham with ... so much to report on how they work together and sadly just how much extra complexity that adds to the extent that it often fails ...