Something has to give in switch to unitary control
LANCASHIRE’S council leaders have been told if they want more cash and power, then they need to come up with a better way of running the county.
Sounds simple doesn’t it? The Government - finally - is pushing local councillors to ditch the old two-tier system and instead opt for a unitary model where all services are provided by one council.
Under the government’s plan, the single tier authorities would also report into a new combined authority, similar to the body Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham oversees. That’s where the extra money comes in.
It’s simple, effective, and highly unlikely to happen in Lancashire without a fuss.
At the moment in Lancashire, the borough council empties the bins, but the county council is responsible for managing the waste.
The borough council runs the bus station, but it’s the county council which subsidises the bus services.
The borough council runs the leisure centres - via a trust - but the county council provides the PE lessons in schools.
Were the councils an actual business, the twotier system would have been scrapped years ago because it’s inefficient for those working in the system, and utterly frustrating for council tax payers.
It’s especially frustrating when the county council is politically at odds with the borough council, as is the case between LCC and Rossendale these days.
The single tier system works well in Bury, Bolton, Rochdale and every other Greater Manchester authority.
It’s worked well since the late 1990s in Blackburn with Darwen too - so why not just get on with it?
Across Lancashire, there’s an acute case of turkeys not wanting to vote for Christmas.
The county council fundamentally doesn’t like the idea because very few people are going to be in favour of LCC becoming a unitary authority, providing all services across the county.
Big authorities don’t work, and LCC hardly has a strong track record of being in tune with the views of local people in areas like Rossendale.
Interestingly, it’s emerged our local MP Jake Berry encouraged Blackburn, Blackpool (another unitary) and Lancashire to work together to create a combined authority, with Lancashire responsible for representing the views of the district councils.
Heck, Lancashire County Council doesn’t even let its own councillors express their own views in cabinet meetings, so quite why we should expect them to be a voice of the borough councils I don’t know.
So a kind of odd courting process is going on between borough councils.
The most sensible arrangement here in Rossendale would be to become part of an East Lancashire authority with Blackburn, Hyndburn, Burnley, Pendle and Ribble Valley, or jumping in with, say, Blackburn and Hyndburn.
However various councils don’t like that idea. Hyndburn mutters about how it is better with cash than other authorities, Burnley like the idea then get into a huff about it, Ribble Valley started going all feint at the idea of being partnered with ‘urban areas’. Pendle also changed political control and changed its mind
But something has to give. There’s no sign to the end of the austerity measures at local councils, and we continue to pay more for less in council tax.
Councillors need to put local people ahead of their personal preferences and start working on a council system which works in 2020.
For the people of Rossendale, that doesn’t involving sending more services to County Hall.