Challenge is how to be a local council

Apr 10 2009 Nicholas Craig, partner at Watson Burton law firm

WE ARE now in the brave new world of single, all-purpose super-councils – unitary authorities in Northumberland and Durham which have shrunk 13 councils to two, and 744 councillors to 193.

In both Northumberland and Durham the people voted against unitary authorities. The former councillors and leader of Northumberland who backed the change all lost their seats. Nevertheless the North East is the first full region in the UK to now have what the majority rejected, more than once. How these bodies reflect democracy is difficult to divine.

This current unitary exercise only covers seven counties, including Northumberland and Durham. It begs the question why unitary local government was not launched right across England, as in Wales and Scotland. This half-cooked idea could well cause problems as the fledgling single councils operate alongside two-tier systems elsewhere.

The economies of scale promised by super-councils appear logical, strategically overseeing roads, social care and education. They will work best if time-consuming issues such as bin collections, street sweeping, and local planning are given over to much stronger parish and community councils.

As a fair few of Northumberland and Durham’s districts do not have town or parish councils they will have to be created – at a cost. We will have to wait to see if such lengthy, expensive reorganisation will ever come about.

Problems with different district taxi fares, recycling bin collections, council housing lists and birth registrations are all being addressed, we are told. The devil is in the detail, and I hope it does not drown out the significant cost and time savings we have been promised.

The biggest challenge for these new super councils is to prove they can be as local as the old system. Businesses appear to appreciate the fact that one large council can bid for significant grants, but smaller companies say they miss the “local councils for local people” approach from districts.

The single streamlined service which should cost less and promises better services makes sound business sense at a time when city regions, European markets and globalisation demand a different, integrated approach from local government.

The two brand new unitary authorities have yet to bed in to the North East. They say that local government reform always ends in tiers. For the North East it hasn’t - yet.