COUNCILLORS in Stoke-on-Trent have criticised plans which could see the city’s governance merged with Lichfield.
Staffordshire County Council has proposed new eastern and western unitary authority’s in response to the Government’s plans for the biggest shake-up of councils since the 1970s.
It would see Stoke-on-Trent join with the Staffordshire Moorlands, East Staffordshire, Lichfield and Tamworth to form a new East Staffordshire body.
Meanwhile, Newcastle-under-Lyme would merge with Stafford, Cannock Chase and South Staffordshire in a separate West Staffordshire council.
Reform UK’s county council leaders say this model would meet the Government’s requirements and result in two authorities with the best chance of succeeding.
But Labour and Conservative elected members on Stoke-on-Trent City Council believe an east-west division makes little geographical or administrative sense given the distance between it and the likes of Lichfield.
Instead, Stoke is backing an alternative plan which would see a new North Staffordshire Council which would also include Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Staffordshire Moorlands. The rest of the county would then sit in a separate southern authority.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Conservative group leader Cllr Dan Jellyman acknowledged that the east-west split would align with the M6 and A50 economic development corridors, but said this would be trumped by the arguments in favour of a North Staffordshire council.
He said:
“The proposed East Staffordshire would be a huge geographical area – over 40 miles in length.
“The fact that it would be a longitudinal shape would provide difficulties in delivering services. You’d have to look at having multiple depots, you’d look at how many access points for residents you’d be providing.
“And the housing needs in Lichfield are dramatically different to the housing needs in a post-industrial city.
“At first glance, the east and west proposals don’t seem to have a really good fit.”
Fellow Conservative, Cllr Dave Evans, said:
“As someone who spends more time than most driving around Staffordshire, I did think the county council’s proposals were poorly thought through.
“Culturally we have very little in common with Lichfield, nor they with us.”
Council services in most parts of Staffordshire are currently divided between the county council and the eight districts and boroughs. The Government wants to replace this two-tier system with a single layer of unitary authorities, which it says will be more effective and efficient.
Final proposals will be submitted at the end of the November, with a final decision then made in Westminster.
