Western Daily Press (Saturday)
What’s the future hold for Gloucestershire?
Former Western Daily Press editor and Business West Gloucestershire director Ian Mean talks to Councillor Mark Hawthorne, leader of Gloucestershire County Council, about the county’s economic future
MARK Hawthorne is not convinced that Gloucestershire needs a directly elected mayor to help it navigate the challenging political and economic waters it faces.
The long-time county council leader says that he believes such a role fits better in cities than rural counties like Gloucestershire.
He said: “The reality is that mayors have been most successful in tight urban settings, whether that be Bristol or Greater Manchester where they are effectively a glue that holds together a location that has a clear identity.
“Gloucestershire has a clear identity but within that identity it is very distinct and different. How can any one individual faithfully represent the interests of, say, the Forest of Dean, people who live in the Cotswolds or Gloucester?
“I think it is the wrong model for the county.”
Cllr Hawthorne is speaking at a time when local authorities across the country are facing some of their toughest challenges in decades, with money extremely tight but demand for services rocketing.
How councils help foster growth in their areas will be key at a time when funding from Whitehall is squeezed.
GFirstLEP, the local enterprise partnership for Gloucestershire which is effectively the voice of business for the county, is being gradually integrated into the county council.
Some within the business community are nervous that the voice of business might diminish under this arrangement.
But Cllr Hawthorne says the move could actually deepen the relationship between the authority and business.
He said: “I think what you will end up seeing is a balance between the demands and needs of the county council from a growth perspective and the demands and views of businesses.
“I think that is how it has worked in the past and I don’t think the council hasn’t had a voice during the period that the LEP was responsible for economic growth.
“What this enables us to do is integrate it far deeper than it was maybe before.
“If we are going to have sensible growth in our county it needs to be planned; it needs to be in the right places and it needs to be integrated with the infrastructure, transport and house delivery.”
He added that he was excited by the prospect of devolution deals from Government as part of the levelling-up process.
He said: “The basic premise from government is there are certain powers based in central government they believe would be better placed in local government.
“For that change to take place, the government makes it clear there must be accountability and it needs to be part of a deal as they describe it.
“From the council’s point of view, we see the benefit is getting some influence and control over things we think are really important for Gloucestershire.
“If you look at the conversations we are now having on the A417, about Junction 9 and 10 and cyber – all of these projects are connected and are about delivering housing growth and business growth in a sensible way.”
As well as the ongoing infrastructure work at Junction 9 and 10 of the M5 and the recently announced approval of the A417 ‘Missing Link’, he is keen to progress rapid transit options between Cheltenham and Gloucester.
He said: “Our mass rapid transport study is going on – that’s how we connect these urban hubs together within our county, and that has a wider remit as to what is happening in Western Gateway and the Bristol North mass rapid transport links.
“We are also having big conversations with Western Gateway around rail strategy to make sure we get the right rail strategy for Gloucestershire. That we have got that good connectivity for Gloucestershire so we can get the benefits from the connections to HS2 and also the new stations we need in the county to support our growth.
“We know there is a need for a new station south of Gloucester. There is also the opportunity of having more services from Ashchurch at Tewkesbury.”
Gloucestershire does well at
attracting inward investment, according to Cllr Hawthorne, but by partnering with organisations such as the Western Gateway and cities like Bristol and Cardiff it can do more.
He said: “As a county we thrive on businesses coming here and saying this is a good place to do business and for our workers to live.
“What we need to recognise in Gloucestershire is that we are big enough to attract some of the businesses in, but if we work with people like Bristol and Cardiff through Western Gateway, we access even more doors of opportunity and that is what maybe was missing in the past and we want to gain some traction.”
With the county and district councils in Somerset becoming a unitary authority in 2023, a process that has already happened elsewhere in the West in Wiltshire and Dorset, questions about the future organisation of local government in Gloucestershire are inevitable.
At the moment there are six district councils and a county council.
Cllr Hawthorne said: “There are two aspects here. All the functions that the districts deliver aren’t the functions that the county council delivers. I do get it that people sometimes find it quite confusing.
“The bit I do think is not working is around planning and strategic planning.
“It is increasingly becoming obvious that districts haven’t got the capacity and the finance to drive that agenda successfully.
“I am increasingly coming to the view that some sort of strategic planning function needs to sit at a county level.
“I think that definitely needs fixing. Whether or not that requires a unitary authority to deliver it or whether or not that needs government to say actually that county councils like ours are responsible – as they were before 2010 – for strategic housing planning, I don’t know.
“But it does need fixing and because I am increasingly worried, and increasingly sympathetic, with the district councils who are struggling to recruit planners and are struggling to deal with the huge complexity of delivering joined up strategic planning when it comes to housing.
“It is something I have raised with Michael Gove previously and I will be raising it with him again. I am a huge fan of Michael Gove.
“As a country we need to look at this so we get back to a situation where housing and business growth is delivered through a joined up strategic planning function.
“Planning shouldn’t just be about housing. It should be about delivering new communities – the homes where people will live, the doctors, the dentists, the schools and the hospitals.
“Here in Gloucestershire, we have at the moment two main hospitals smack bang in the middle of urban centres.
“I think there is a logic at some point in saying what we need is a health service that delivers for our urban conurbations which is easily acceptable to all those urban conurbations. My view is that you would not put them in the centre of either but on the edge of both.”
One area where Cllr Hawthorne envisages progress in 2023 is hopefully a more local approach for buses.
He said: “Clearly, we are seeing a very difficult time for bus transport in our county. Many of us are coming to the conclusion that the current set-up isn’t working and there needs to be a more strategic approach as to how bus routes are planned and delivered.
“This will require changes to the powers we have as a county council – that’s the sort of thing, I will be knocking on the door to Michael Gove with.
“I will be saying these are the routes the public want and the bus companies need to come and apply for them.
“This needs fixing, and I will tell Michael Gove that if you support rural bus services you need to give us the ability to deliver those rural bus services.”
I am coming to the view that some sort of strategic planning function needs to sit at a county level COUNCILLOR MARK HAWTHORNE