Counterproposals to ensure more than one council covers Leicestershire have been put forward by officials. A reorganisation of the county's council structures must take place to unlock greater decision-making as part of the Government's devolution plans, but proposals so far have divided political leaders locally.
Last week, leaders at Leicestershire County Council said as part of the reorganisation they want one single council for the county, excluding Rutland and Leicester, and operating on existing authority boundaries. It was a departure from earlier expectations that the county council would support expanded city boundaries.
That change is likely to cause friction with city politicians who believe that the border extension is vital to keeping Leicester City Council financially viable, and to help it meet Government-set housing targets. Leicestershire's district and borough councils have previously hit out at the single authority proposal for the county too, saying it would be “too cumbersome” and “too remote”.
READ MORE: Single authority for Leicestershire is ‘common-sense’ approach, claims county council
Now, the leaders of the districts and boroughs, and of Rutland County Council, have now set out their vision for Leicestershire’s political future. They believe that three councils are the correct approach for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
The city would remain separate under their proposals, and the city council would continue to operate on its existing boundaries. They would then want to see Leicestershire split in two, with a largely north-south divide.
The areas which are currently served by Charnwood, North West Leicestershire and Melton district and borough councils would combine to form one of the authorities. Rutland would also be joined with them under this proposal.
The second authority, South Leicestershire, would then cover the areas of Blaby, Harborough, Hinckley and Bosworth and Oadby and Wigston district and borough councils. The three authorities would be “broadly similar” in terms of their populations with around 400,000 people in each.
The councils further want a strategic authority which would sit over the top of all three, and would be presided over by a directly elected mayor – the Government’s preferred approach to unlocking devolution benefits.
The district, borough and Rutland leaders believe their approach “would enable areas to retain a strong sense of place identity and ensure the new councils remain connected to their communities”, while “making significant savings and enabling more effective service delivery”. It would also “preserve local heritage and civic identities”, they believe.
They added in a joint statement: “We don’t believe the current system is broken, but if it has to change it is absolutely vital we get this right for our communities, as what we do will affect how public services are delivered for many years to come […]
“[The county council’s plan for] a single county unitary for 800,000 people covering hundreds of square miles is far too large. To be clear, nothing has been finalised, and today we are sharing our initial ideas. We will be engaging with our stakeholders and communities and want to hear their views so that collectively we build the best possible future for local government across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.”
“Public engagement” on these plans is expected to begin this week, although the councils have not set out what form this will take. Initial proposals for local reorganisation will need to be put before the Government by Friday, March 21.
LeicestershireLive spoke to Deborah Taylor, acting leader of the county council, and city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, last week to get their views what the restructure should look like. You can read the interviews here.
