The District Councils’ Network has responded to today’s Budget which revealed the Government intends to reorganise local government.

Today’s Budget Red Book said: “The upcoming English Devolution White Paper will set out more detail on the government’s devolution plans, including on working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas, with efficiency savings from council reorganisation helping to meet the needs of local people.”

Reorganisation poses a threat to district councils – the tier of principal local government which is closest to local communities – which face being merged into larger unitary councils, which are further from communities and cover much larger geographical areas.

The suggestion that reorganisation will automatically bring savings and “makes sense for local areas” is very much open to question. There is also no mention in the early-stage proposals of how any reorganisation will improve work between councils and other public services such as the NHS and police, which operate on different boundaries to local government.

Reorganisation also poses a threat to the 164 district councils’ frontline services, which are used by 21 million people, which include economic development, housing, planning, waste collection, parks and green spaces, environmental health and leisure services. The danger is that money is diverted from these services to plug growing financial shortfalls in social care.

In response, Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, Chair of the District Councils’ Network, said:

“The District Councils’ Network believes that wholesale reorganisation of local government is the last thing the country and our local communities need. It would be a huge distraction that would risk paralysing the delivery of local services in large parts of the country for the rest of the parliament. House building and economic development are among the areas that face disruption.

“Now is the time for district councils and local government to focus on delivering the pressing things that matter to our residents: jobs, homes, growth, better health and thriving local places. District councils want to work in partnership with the Government to achieve these outcomes which are at the heart of its national missions. It would be far better for the Government to empower us as part of the devolution agenda than to risk a counter-productive upheaval.

“Past experience suggests local government reorganisation is no panacea for saving money and improving the financial sustainability of local councils. Many new unitary councils have experienced deep financial difficulties. Evidence that new councils are more efficient and effective is inconclusive at best. There is a danger that cash-strapped new unitary councils would have no choice but to use money intended for value-adding services like leisure, wellbeing, social prescribing, homelessness prevention and community outreach to plug financial gaps in social care and children’s services.

“Any changes must meet the needs of local people. Imposing top-down reorganisation and abolishing district councils would move power away from local communities and would be the opposite to devolution.

“Compared to many other countries, England already proportionately has far fewer councils, each typically covering far more people. A top-down reorganisation would make us even more of an outlier, with even more powers being held far from local people.

“District councils are close to our communities. Because of this we’re trusted – our communities and businesses know that districts deliver when it comes to providing local services. This dependability could be at risk.

“None of this is to say that local government boundaries should be set in stone – viable proposals do sometimes emerge from local areas in response to communities’ changing needs. But in the spirit of devolution, it is essential that any such proposals genuinely emerge from local democratic bodies rather than be forced upon councils from Whitehall.”

Notes

The Bennett Institute for Public Policy Research this year reviewed the effectiveness of local government reorganisation. Its research can be seen here.

DCN commissioned pollsters BritainThinks to undertake a survey of 1,000 people about their attitude to public services. This research showed district councils are the most trusted bodies in our areas on a variety of different issues.

The study showed that 59% of people could identify their district, compared to 32% their county council.

The full BritainThinks research can be seen here.