PLANS to revamp council areas could see residents forced to say goodbye to local decision making, the leader of Lichfield District Council has warned.
The Government outlined the proposals to do away with two-tier areas such as Staffordshire earlier this year.
It would mean the system of separate district and county councils would end with new unitary authorities replacing them.
Ministers have now given local authorities six weeks to draw up initial proposals which must see a single body representing a minimum of 500,000 residents.
Cllr Doug Pullen, leader of Lichfield District Council said that the move will create significant change for local people:
“For 50 years, the system of having a district council, based around a geography meaningful to voters and making decisions about the locality, as well as a much larger county council, with the ability to make large-scale infrastructure investments across the region, has served residents relatively well.
“The new Labour Government and their Whitehall civil servants are now taking a very wide and incredibly stiff broom to sweep those arrangements away, with a decree coming from London that by 21st March all two-tier authorities must have submitted interim plans for re-organisation, with final plans being submitted by November.
“Those plans must include suggestions as to how district and county councils can be abolished and replaced with new super-councils with a minimum of 500,000 residents.
“That will mean goodbye to local decision making. Planning applications for Little Aston could now be decided in Stafford, a decision on improving a park in Burntwood could be voted on by a councillor from Kinver and investment in Lichfield’s high street could be vetoed in Burton.”
Local Government Minister Jim McMahon told councillors that the changes were a “once in a generation” opportunity to put local government on a more sustainable footing.
But Cllr Pullen said that the scale of the change and the one-size-fits-all approach meant issues would arise.
“Of course, the multi-tiered system of local government isn’t perfect and I’m not opposed to combining all three tiers into one.
“But the obsession by civil servants and Labour Ministers with an entirely arbitrary bare minimum size of 500,000 residents is deeply problematic.
“Such a number may work in a major city such as Manchester or London, but makes no sense at all in sparsely populated areas such as southern Staffordshire.
“Local democracy appears to have been entirely missed out of this step too – think the local system works quite well, and you don’t want this in your local area? Tough, because the Minister has made it very clear that if we don’t agree, he will legislate to force it.”
Cllr Pullen said that despite his opposition to the scale of change, he will work to make the best of the situation.
He said:
“I for one will be doing what comes as second-nature to every local authority leader I know – which is to roll our sleeves up and deal with the challenge put in front of us by national government.
“We’ll work closely with other councils to ensure we can get the very best possible shape of local government within the parameters we’ve been set.
“But rather like a Boxing Day game of Monopoly with the in-laws – you don’t really want to play, you certainly don’t like their set of rules, none of the finances make sense and you’re secretly hoping someone is going to flip the board and end the game so you can get back to doing something useful.”
I totally agree with Cllr. Pullen.
When Dug Pullen says the present system has worked ‘relatively well’ that means is has worked relatively unwell too. I am sure many citizens of Lichfield bemoan the Districts deaf ear approach to local concerns. I was at one meeting when councillors declared a petition as outside their remit for consideration. Certainly, had the council been less party political we might have seen more equitable results.
I do not like the new unitary proposals. It will create less obstructions for government proposals but do less for local concerns. But there was a time when local people were passionate about their council and the affects on the area, as we are now disenfranchised from the actions of the District Council, it hardly matters who governs us….it surely can’t be much worse.
As our councillors pay scant regard to our opinions, I can only see this as a benefit to us residents.
Doug Pullen, LDC rarely listen to local people anyway so I doubt they’ll be much difference. Lichfield has deteriorated in various respects in recent years, particularly on the planning side with huge poor quality housing estates and flats popping up everywhere and a total lack of infrastructure to support. LDC is a weak organisation and I for one will not be particularly exercised if it’s disbanded.
Yes but Heseltine wanted rid of DCs in 74 and then again in the 1990s only to get this kind of response. Business investors, firms, builders don’t want to deal with a myriad of different organisations every 6/7 miles. You could argue Little Aston is Sutton concentric, Fazeley Tamworth and Stonall Aldridge. I would hardly call the boundaries well thought out. Helsaltine openly admits he looked at maps and flew in a light aircraft drawing lines and that today the process would have fallen foul of a judicial review.
You can have local area planning sub committees within a Unitary Authority to maintain localism. Regarding sparse populations the argument hardly stands up when Cornwall, Somerset, Shropshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Cheshire, Northumbria, North Yorkshire already operate the Unitary system. 3 Councils is a confusing joke. 47 Councillors for a £16m budget which lacks the financial scale to do much. Conservative reluctance means CC elections happen – head on a hit with Reform!
So Mr D Pullen is upset over disbanding local councils, I have been upset over LDC not listening to its residents.
So I look forward to the future.
The counter argument is that, with a population of nearly 900,000 (2021 figures), Staffordshire can be split and decisions that are currently made in Stafford can be moved closer to home. Having Cannock, Rugeley, Burton, Tamworth and Lichfield merged and in charge of all services for the area might make a lot of sense.
The fact is this unitary concept works better for getting things done all over England now. I feel LDC lost the plot 10+ years ago especially with Friarsgate. I say bring this new council on asap
If people think the current system doesn’t work, and that councillors don’t listen, then just imagine what will happen when the councillors making the decisions come from a very different area of the County, and have very little knowledge, or much care about Lichfield or what the people living there want.
All of the people stating ‘it can’t get worse’ – I think it can get a lot worse, with very little prospect of it getting better. You may not think the current district council listens, but at least we as people living in the district have a better opportunity to criticise and indeed vote for local causes when the district elections come around.
Power being transferred to Staffordshire county will mean your local concerns will fall into a big black hole and will just a small voice in amongst the thousands of other concerns raised by people from Codsall to Leek and everywhere in between.
Just think how difficult it’s been to get Pot holes fixed by Staffs County Council….
If no one else is going to say it I will… Lichfield residents will be worse off being grouped in with our poorer neighbours. We will end up paying in more than we recieve, as LDC has the highest proportion of high band properties in Staffordshire (F-H). Little Aston shouldn’t have to subsidise Stoke-on-Trent for example.
No matter the situation, I’d like someone to ask if this is legal. This is not what people are being asked if they want it but you’re having it without a vote. Does Westminster honestly believe this is the way to treat people.
Why not have a question included, along with other votes, in the forthcoming local elections in May to ask the question:
“Do you want to see LDC and Staffordshire county council abolished and replaced with a unitary authority?”
At least this would encourage our trusted representatives to outline the pros and cons of replacing the current system (district and county councils) with a single unitary authority covering most of Staffordshire.
None of this was in the Labour Manifesto and now they wabt it rushed through in 6 weeks. I wonder why they want rid of districts and counties and prefer urban focused unitary authorities? Curious.
As for the “Lichfield District hasnt listened or done as i have wanted therefore abolish it” argument, i look forward to your total befuddlement when Lichfield is totally ignored in a super unitary authority and Mayor of Staffordshire based in Stoke.