Atherstone to be asked: How do you see local democracy in the future?

FIVE COUNCILS BAND TOGETHER TO DEMAND GOVERNMENT ASKS RESIDENTS ABOUT CIVIC GOVERNANCE CHANGES

COUNTY COUNCIL REPORT TO DISCUSS THIS WEEK WHETHER UNITARY AUTHORITY PLANS WOULD PROVIDE 'STRONG VOICE FOR WARWICKSHIRE'

RESIDENTS in Atherstone are to get a say in the battle to determine the future direction of local politics.

The borough council is among five district authorities aiming to stop the biggest re-organisation of local government in half a century – unless the public's voice is heard.

The group has been formed ahead of the publishing of a bombshell White Paper next month by a Tory government thought to be planning to hoover up local democracy into single unitary bodies.

The five district and borough councils have written to Housing, Communities and Local Government Minister Simon Clarke signalling they wish to be invited to present proposals for the future reform of local government, based on views gathered from across Warwickshire.

The quintet – North Warwickshire Borough Council plus authorities representing, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Stratford, Warwick and Rugby – have also commissioned a study looking at options for the future of the area and will then put those choices to a cross section of residents, businesses and organisations.

The five councils – who are responsible for areas such as housing and planning, street cleaning, refuse collection, environmental health and leisure provision – are opposed to the Warwickshire authority opting for a single entity for the whole of the county without consultation with local residents, the business community or other councils.

In a joint statement, the five council leaders have said that it is vital that local people have a say in how they wished the county to be run but stressed the need for change.

They said: "We live in a democracy and we are talking about the biggest shake-up in half a century so it would be totally wrong for any changes just to be pushed through without any feedback from residents, business and partner organisations.

"We all believe that local accountability and responsibility is vital – and never has that been more evident than during the current coronavirus pandemic when local councils have been able to respond to very local needs from residents and businesses.

"We clearly believe in the need to maintain that local element but also understand that reform is not only inevitable but also necessary as we are working on a model set in the 1970s when the world was a vastly different place.

"However, that does not mean that all that is good in local government is simply wiped away in a power grab which – we believe – does not serve the area well. We may represent different political parties but we are totally united in this and have made our views known to our local MPs.

"Councils at all levels across Warwickshire only exist to serve the interests of local residents and to deliver high quality services at the best possible value."

The councils are due to start their survey in September

The latest developments come as the county councillors are due to discuss a merger report at an extraordinary meeting of the authority's cabinet on Thursday.

The county council's findings strongly support the formation of one unitary governing body in the county.

This would replace the current two-tier model, and dissolve all of the district and borough councils – including the one representing Atherstone and North Warwickshire's municipal interests.

The report for Warwickshire County Council published this August indicates significant changes to the current model, that could see the greatest change to local authorities since the Local Government Act 1972.

Three different models for change are suggested in the Strategic Case for Changes report.

Option One presents a modification on the current two-tier model, "but with optimised collaboration in some areas of duplicated responsibility, such as waste management, community safety or leisure".

Option Two suggests a single unitary approach for the whole county. This would mean that all five district and borough councils would merge with the county council to form one governing body for the entirety of Warwickshire.

Option Three proposes that two unitary bodies are formed, one in the north and one in the south of the county. This would effectively see North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, and Rugby merging in the north while Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon did the same in the south.

Two other options were discussed but ultimately discounted. These suggested either for three unitary bodies, or changes to configurations to combine with authorities outside the county boundaries.

While the report does discuss all three options, the recommendation that comes from it is that "the case for unitary government for Warwickshire is compelling". The report reaches this conclusion on the basis of a number of points. It argues that one body would provide greater accountability as well as "a strong voice for Warwickshire" and states that with the removal of district and borough councils, directly responsible for a smaller locality that, "a single unitary can balance scale and speed with a truly local focus". The Minister for Local Government has already stated that the population of new unitary authorities is "expected to be substantially in excess of 300,000-400,000" County council leader Izzi Seccombe has already warned that the "status quo is not a realistic option given the government's desire for change". The unitary authority option has left Atherstone and North Warwickshire facing a double threat to their civic entity as coronavirus and a reforming central Government threaten to reopen old political war wounds over a "poor relation" status in a north-south county divide. Borough Labour group leader Adam Farrell says having a unitary authority for the whole of Warwickshire is "madness", in what would be a thoroughly "bad idea" for its people. He told Nub News: "Local councils know what's best for local people. "I fear what sort of service we would get from an authority run by people who don't live here . "People are better served by councils closer to home who are made up of local people." Cllr Farrell said he was not against change, or even unitary authority decisions on a smaller but his biggest worry "if we let them do everything – then the north would miss out as everything would go to the south". He added: "It's already the case, and you only have to look at what has happened during Covid-19 lockdown." And he concluded: "The centre of the universe does not revolve around Stratford. "They don't care about North Warwickshire, they only care about the south. "We've been run roughshod over the years."