Councils fear the local is being taken out of local government

The government has got a grand plan to shake up the way local government works and give councils and mayors more clout.

It involves existing councils merging to create single authorities that provide all the services in their area, and then, in many places, working together under the umbrella of a local mayor.

The reorganisation – which ministers say will make councils simpler and more efficient, and make mayors champions for their regions – will also see local elections in nine areas postponed for a year.

But while many local leaders back the idea, this huge reorganisation has plenty of critics – and has created plenty of local rows.

In some places there is disagreement over how councils should be re-structured, how many people they should serve, what the geographical boundaries should be and whether some councils might have to take on other councils’ financial burdens – and all this is happening at a time when many local authorities are struggling to balance budgets.

One local Conservative leader said: “It’s like reorganising the deckchairs on HMS local government Titanic which is still sinking and taking on water and we have no idea how we’re going to stop that.”

It’s a process that started under the last government. Some areas have already reorganised their structures and have elected mayors, but the picture is pretty piecemeal across England.

The government now wants every area to get on board with what the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has called a “devolution revolution”, and some are fully signed up.

One senior Tory councillor said: “You need economies of scale for housing, transport, schools and roads rather than what happens now, which is people don’t know where to go if their bins aren’t collected, and they don’t know which council does what – this is a much more simple and hopefully cheaper way of providing services.”

Councils have been under the cosh when it comes to funding, with growing demand for services like social care, support for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and housing.

They’re also the bodies that are on the front line when it comes to delivering some of the government’s key priorities, including getting 1.5 million new homes built over the course of this Parliament.

One Tory councillor said embarking on a major shake-up right now was diverting attention from delivering, and would not solve councils’ financial challenges.

“It’s created a lot of animosity,” they said.

“Many councillors only got elected in 2023 and are beginning to deliver their agenda around housing delivery, infrastructure and growth and they’ve had rug pulled out from beneath them.

“They were out on the doorstep saying the government had to deliver homes, but everyone is so fixated on local government reorganisation they haven’t been able to think about their local plan.

“All that spare capacity and bandwidth has been taken up talking about something that may or may not happen.”

There’s another point of contention – the speed at which it’s happening.

Supporters say the government’s been clear about the direction of travel so pressing on makes sense, while critics claim the process has been “rushed”.

Cllr Bridget Smith, the Lib Dem leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, said the issue of reorganising local government had taken attention “almost to the exclusion of anything else” since before Christmas, saying it’s a “massive distraction and massive cost” that would mean “the local will be lost in local government”.

“Surely the big problem is social care and children’s services,” she said.

“Surely it’s better to focus on solving those before moving the deckchairs of local government around.”

Setting out plans in the House of Commons, Rayner said there would be extensive engagement with local communities – and plenty of local leaders have already been knocking on ministers’ doors to share their views.

Some believe the pushback is being driven by politics from those who stand to lose out on council seats.

“I think it’s people in the bubble talking to themselves,” one council leader said. “This is about politics, nothing more.”

The Labour leader of Thurrock Council, Jack Kent, said: “This is just about the most centralised country in the Western world, and this is a real transfer of powers from Whitehall to the town hall. Moving to something that is stronger, more resilient, more ambitious for its population can only be good for people.”

Tim Oliver, the Conservative leader of Surrey County Council, said: “There is party political noise about this, but at the end of the day we’re here to serve residents and is simplification and less cost better for residents? It is. We’ll get through a little bit of turbulence.”

There’s certainly plenty of discussion – and disagreement – among councillors across England, but one thing most agree on – and ministers acknowledge – is that changing the way councils work will not solve the challenges they face without further reform of some of the key services they provide.