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Gloucestershire Business News

Gloucestershire leaders push ahead to fast-track devolution

County bosses have pushed ahead with devolution proposals to delay the elections and become a unitary authority as quickly as possible despite widespread resistance.

Five of the six borough councils opposed the move to put off the vote until May 2026 - Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud, Cotswolds and Forest Of Dean.

They said it should go ahead as planned as Gloucestershire was "not yet ready for delivering devolution on an accelerated time frame" and there had been no "meaningful discussions" about the best path forward.

In a separate statement, Cllr Adrian Birch, leader of Forest of Dean District Council, said: "I do not support the postponement of these elections and along with several other local authority leaders in Gloucestershire, have written to the minister to underline this position."

He said while he was keen to see devolution of powers, functions and resources from Whitehall to local government there has not been "adequate engagement" with residents to ensure the Forest's unique identity was not lost.

Meanwhile the five MPs for those same areas have sent a separate letter to the Minister Jim McMahon supporting devolution but stating the county should be split into two unitary authorities.

They believe the creation of one giant council, which would be amongst the ten largest in England, would "not best serve the people of Gloucestershire".

It was signed by:

  • Alex McIntyre, Labour MP for Gloucester
  • Max Wilkinson, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham
  • Simon Opher, Labour MP for Stroud
  • Matt Bishop, Labour MP for Forest of Dean
  • Roz Savage, Liberal Democrat MP for South Cotswold

Mr Wilkinson also spoke out and said the abolition of Cheltenham Borough Council could snatch power away from local communities.

"While I do not oppose unitary authorities as a concept," he said, "I am against the imposition of a single new council to rule over the whole of Gloucestershire, in charge of everything ranging from planning and bin collections to environment and transport.

"A new countywide unitary council would be too big to give all our county's communities a voice - something smaller would be so much more appropriate."

A move to two authorities was touted earlier this week as the "best way forward" by Gloucesteshire Labour.

However, Tewkesbury's Liberal Democrat council leader and MP, who did not sign the letters, have said this would be "wasteful" and have backed the proposal to move to a single authority .

At a meeting last night (Jan 9) members of Gloucestershire County Council's cabinet voted unanimously to back the move to a single authority saying it was the only logical way forward.

Tory leader Cllr Stephen Davies said the idea of splitting Gloucestershire was "outrageous" as the two areas would then fall well below the 5000,000 population threshold suggested by the Government's devolution White Paper.

He was "disappointed" by the lack of agreement from the districts but said the compressed timescale was partly to blame as it had not allowed opportunity for discussions.

The Labour Government published its devolution White Paper on December 16 outlining plans to abolish district councils and create larger unitary authorities with more widespread powers. It gave councils until 5pm today (Jan 10) to respond.

Cllr Davies said this left his team with 15 working days to craft an answer so it could be voted on at the special meeting of the cabinet.

The question they faced, he said, was not what government organisation structure they wanted, but what action they would take in response to the White Paper.

"The government is unequivocal about the need to move to unitary; they do not make this optional," he said. "This is their mandated direction of travel. 

"We could argue all day and may and another time about whether combined authorities and devolution is the right model. That isn't the question up for debate today, that is again a given by the white paper, and therefore our job is to set out to do that."

He said getting into phase one would enable the county to become a unitary authority faster, unlock significant investment funding and give staff a clear direction and security. He said the election delay had been asked for to avoid duplicating the £800,000 cost.

His predecessor Cllr Mark Hawthorne, who has led the county council and Gloucester City Council, said there was no "long term future for districts" and leaders needed to be "bold" and "grasp the opportunity" as it was the "best future for Gloucestershire".

"We are facing an exciting future where we bring together housing and infrastructure to deliver a bold and joined-up future for our residents," he added.

"Or we face a muddled mess where we continue to deliver the housing needs of our county across four districts who are ill-equipped and ill- resourced to deliver those housing numbers and who will continue to make the wrong decisions."

Several cabinet members said the change made financial sense as many district councils were struggling to balance their books.

Cllr Lynden Stowe said "Four years ago our revenue reserves were £18million. They are now £33million. That is an increase of 80% and is in the opposite direction of the district councils."

Cllr Paul McLain said: "I sat in on a meeting with Tewkesbury Borough Council colleagues, and they were very robust and very passionate about cracking on and getting this done, because they recognize the importance of the financial incentives that we will miss out on if we do not pursue this, whether we like it or not.

"Yes, we are voting for the extinction of the county council and the district councils, but we cannot miss out on the hundreds of millions of pounds."

Others highlighted that it would streamline services and Cllr David Gray said: "Clearly we need to go for the unitary option.

He added: "I think it is absolutely imperative that we have the strategic vision and the ability to implement strategic planning across the county."

Cllr Stephan Fifield said he believed the public would prefer a move to a single authority as it would make things simpler.

"People want a single representative who will get things done for them. People don't appreciate how much of a blockage the system can be. When they want leaves removed from the gutter of a tree removed from a highway they don't care who does it.

"They want it done quickly, efficiently and cheaply and there is no doubt that moving to unitary will provide a better democratic avenue for people to channel the problems they have day to day."

Cllr Carole Allaway-Martin said there were "significant gains from going unitary and Gloucestershire had to be "in it to win it".

"One of the things I would absolutely dread is the notion of it being mandated by the Labor Government on Gloucestershire residents," she said. "We would have no control over the model, the content, or how it would work out. So I think we have to take this opportunity."

The cabinet voted to endorse Cllr Davies letter to the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution which commits to devolution for Gloucestershire and requests a postponement of the Gloucestershire County Council elections and electoral boundary changes to May 2026.

It concludes: "The Council will respond to your request for interim plans by March 2025 and my

cabinet and I will ensure that Gloucestershire's proposals are developed in close collaboration with local MPs, all seven Gloucestershire local authorities, stakeholders, and sector partners."

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