Ralph Muncer: Unitary authorities offer less bureaucracy. Labour’s demand for another layer of regional Mayors contradicts that.
Cllr Ralph Muncer is the Leader of the North Hertfordshire District Council Conservative Group.
While many of us may pay more attention to what’s going on in the House of Commons compared to proceedings in County Hall, the decisions taken by local councils have a significant impact on our everyday lives.
However, the current system of Local Government in many non-metropolitan counties such as Hertfordshire, dates back to the Local Government Act of 1972 and is antiquated, bureaucratic and costly to the taxpayer; It’s a system in desperate need of reform.
The new Government seem to believe the only way to devolve power from Whitehall to County Hall is through Mayoral Combined Authorities, with the Local Government Minster, Jim McMahon, even going as far as stating that it is “not acceptable” to not have a mayor.
Whilst Metro Mayors may be the solution in cities and distinct urban areas such as London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, a one-size-fits-all approach to Local Government will leave residents and communities in the shires worse off.
So, if the answer to reform isn’t a directly-elected Mayor, then what is?
As Conservatives, we believe councils should provide residents with good value for money, and that it should be for councillors to set policy and take decisions, not unelected Officials.
My experiences as a District Councillor in North Hertfordshire, particularly with the Council neglecting its statutory responsibilities by cutting bin collections to once every three weeks, has only strengthened my belief that the Government should abolish District and Borough Councils, and implement single unitary authorities in non-metropolitan counties, with the powers currently only reserved for directly-elected Mayors devolved to these new County Authorities.
With just over half of councils warning they are likely to issue a Section 114 notice within the next five years, a more sustainable funding model is needed. Although Labour pledged to provide councils with multi-year funding settlements, it is not clear when this will be implemented and unlikely the sector will receive any additional funding from Central Government.
Single Unitary Authorities would deliver simpler, more efficient and cost-effective governance for local communities.
For example, in Hertfordshire a recent report estimated a single Hertfordshire Council, as opposed to the convoluted structure of eleven District, Borough and County Councils that currently exist, would result in savings of over £100 million. That’s more money to be invested in our schools, ensuring children in Hertfordshire continue to be equipped with the skills they need for the future, our roads – of which Hertfordshire County Council has already invested an additional £4 million to fix over 400,000 potholes this year, or it’s money that can be kept in the pockets of hard-working taxpayers.
Savings would be realised in many forms from the removal of duplicate roles, to improved efficiencies by having, for example, one IT Network as well as a reduction in redundant office space. A Hertfordshire Council would also be able to get better value for money on procurement contracts such as bin collections, due to the economies of scale associated with providing services to over 1.2 million residents across the County.
Anyone involved in Government, local or otherwise, will no doubt have had the experience of bureaucracy getting in the way of delivering change.
With the forthcoming Local Government White Paper, the Government has an opportunity to bust bureaucracy, and get rid of the red tape that impedes local authorities from achieving better outcomes for our communities and supporting growth in our local economies.
But, rather than reduce the tiers of Local Government, Labour seem intent on the effective maintenance of the status quo. It’s unrealistic to believe that lower-tier authorities will survive re-organisation, but the murmurs from Marsham Street suggest the White Paper will contain proposals for smaller unitary authorities, with a Mayoral Combined Authority sitting above.
This somewhat defeats the object of reform, as all that will have been achieved will be the demotion of Counties and Unitaries to lower-tier District status.
Reform only has the ability to support growth in local economies, if local economic policy corresponds to it. With an economy worth over £46 billion, Hertfordshire is an economic powerhouse larger than many cities. The best way to unlock future growth, particularly in globally important sectors such as biosciences, advanced manufacturing and film and TV production, would not be through a directly-elected Mayor, but to provide a single Council with the power to develop and implement an integrated economic policy, free from the factors that inhibit growth such as bureaucracy.
Devolution is about empowering local leaders to ensure decisions are made closer to the local people, communities and businesses they affect.
One of the arguments levelled against the idea of single unitary authorities is they would be ‘too big’. Indeed, a single Hertfordshire Council would be one of the largest in the country. The same would also be the case for a single authority in Surrey.
However, this argument is easily overcome if the Government chooses to focus on empowering local councillors to deliver change in the communities they represent, rather than power being concentrated and exercised by one individual, detached from the concerns of local people.
The best way to empower Councillors is to give them the most valuable tool of all. Time.
Although increasing politician’s pay is never popular, if the role of a Councillor were to be remunerated to the equivalent of a full-time job, this would give members more time to scrutinise policy proposals, resulting in better and more effective policy making, increase accountability of Cabinet Members and Officers, and strengthen relationships with community stakeholders. It also might even allow for MPs to devote more of their time to actually legislating!
In the coming weeks, Labour’s plans for the future of Local Government will be revealed; a one-size-fits-all approach will leave residents and communities in the shires worse off, and squander the biggest opportunity in a generation to improve the ability of local government to deliver for the people they serve.
This article (Ralph Muncer: Unitary authorities offer less bureaucracy. Labour’s demand for another layer of regional Mayors contradicts that.) was created and published by Conservative Home and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Ralph Muncer
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