Regional mayor proposed
COUNCIL LEADERS’ ALTERNATIVE TO SINGLE AUTHORITY
AN East Midlands Mayor role has been proposed as an alternative to scrapping Leicestershire’s district councils.
Leaders from across the county’s middle tier of authorities have tried to kill off a plan to abolish them by approaching the Government to ask for a new political set up with a regionally elected mayor.
The leaders of the seven district councils wrote to local government minister Robert Jenrick saying they backed plans to form an East Midlands Combined Authority rather than Leicestershire County Council’s plans for a standalone unitary authority.
The district leaders said their vision would allow greater devolution of power from Whitehall and help them “match the impact seen within the West Midlands”, which already has a combined authority with 12 councils and a directly elected mayor.
The move was revealed in a private letter sent by the district leaders to Leicestershire County Council leader Nick Rushton – but seen by the Mercury.
Coun Rushton backs a plan to dissolve the seven districts and County Hall and start again with an entirely new authority which would have responsibility for all the services currently split between the two layers of local government.
He said the structure could potentially save £30 million a year, in part by reducing the duplication of roles across the councils.
The letter has been signed by Conservative council leaders Terry Richardson, of Blaby District, Jonathan Morgan, of Charnwood borough, Phil King, of Harborough, and Joe Orson, of Melton.
It has also been signed by Stuart Bray and John Boyce, the Liberal Democrat leaders of Hinckley and
Bosworth and Oadby and Wigston borough councils.
North West Leicestershire District Council Tory leader Richard Blunt has not signed it.
The leaders who signed the letter have again urged Coun Rushton to drop his unitary plans.
He said: “I’m surprised they are writing to the Government saying they are representing Leicestershire without consulting Leicestershire
County Council. They’re not actually representing Leicestershire because North West Leicestershire hasn’t signed up.
“They don’t agree with it and I understand some of the others are unhappy their names have been put on the letter.
“I’ll be writing back to them to ask what they mean and what they want.
“Are they talking about a combined authority including Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire?
“They don’t seem to have recognised at all that we have the city of Leicester in the middle.
“The only good thing I can see is they have finally accepted the current system is broken where before they were in denial.
“Their solution appears to be another level of bureaucracy with an elected mayor at the top.
“It would be expensive and it doesn’t deal with any of the problems councils are facing.”
It is unclear how having a directly elected East Midlands Mayor could impact on the position of the city mayor.