RETURN OF THE ELECTED MAYOR IN REVAMP OF LOCAL COUNCILS
Proposals would see city merge with Newcastle and Moorlands
STOKE-ON-TRENT, Newcastle and the Staffordshire Moorlands would be merged together – and run by an elected mayor – in a think tank’s radical vision for local government reform.
The Centre for Cities has published proposals for a major revamp of local councils in England, which would see the existing mishmash of 349 county, district, borough and city and combined authorities replaced with 69 mayor-led ones.
All the new authorities would be unitaries, meaning an end to the twotier system of local government.
In North Staffordshire, this would see the creation of a ‘Greater Stoke’, with the new unitary taking in Stoke-on-trent, Newcastle and the Moorlands - each of which is currently run by a separate council.
Stafford, meanwhile, would join East Staffordshire and Cannock Chase in a new Staffordshire unitary, while Tamworth, Lichfield and South Staffordshire would become full constituent members of the West Midlands Combined Authority.
In this structure, Staffordshire County Council would no longer exist, its territory effectively being split in three – in a similar way to how Cheshire County Council and its districts were replaced with two unitaries in 2009.
Centre for Cities policy officer Simon Jeffrey, above, who wrote the report, argues that this structure would be clearer, more efficient and better reflect the economic reality of ‘travel to work’ areas, such as North Staffordshire.
In Mr Jeffrey’s plan for devolution, the new unitaries would wield similar powers to the Mayor of London, with greater control over council tax and business rates, and budgets set over four years, rather than one. The idea is that authorities would become less dependent on central government.
Mr Jeffrey believes this means they would have to be led by elected mayors, who would be directly accountable to the entire electorate and have a clear mandate to act.
In his report, Mr Jeffrey says there needs to be an end to the current ‘fragmentation’ of local government.
He says: “What is needed is the creation of local government institutions that better match the geographies over which people work and live their lives, that have the capacity to make better use of existing powers, and that are well placed and able to take on new ones.
“It requires local government boundaries to be redrawn and powers brought together to move from the existing 349 local and combined authorities each with economic powers in England down to 69 mayor-led ones responsible for local economic growth.
“A reform of this nature will always be controversial, but the economic challenges places around the country are facing combined with the Government’s commitment to level up opportunity, mean it is a reform whose time has come.” Ministers are expected to soon publish a white paper containing the government’s proposals for local government reorganisation.
Prior to the publication of the Centre for Cities’ report, the County Councils Network proposed a system of county unitaries, which would see all of Staffordshire, apart from Stoke-ontrent, run by a single council.
Simon Tagg, leader of Newcastle Borough Council, has been dismissive of both sets of proposals.
He said: “As I said in relation to the CCN’S proposals, I don’t think abolishing layers of government leads to these big savings, and it means councils move further from the people they serve.
“I’ve spoken to Alan White, the leader of Staffordshire County Council, and we believe we can continue working as a two-tier system while still making efficiencies.”
City council leader Abi Brown does not believe there is an urgent need for a major restructuring of local government.
She said: “I have a brilliant relationship with both Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and
Newcastle Borough Council, and we will always look at how we can better work together.
“But I don’t think this is the right time to be discussing moving lines on a map.”