Happy spring time everybody! March has arrived, the days are getting longer, I can watch my daughter play rugby with less than ten layers on (me, not her), and Local Government Reorganisation is gambolling towards us.
As I’m sure every body know, devolution is coming and before too long, Surrey will no longer exist – or at least not in the same way. Our County Council, District and Borough Councils will be replaced by two or three Unitary Authorities. In case you have just woken from hibernation, there is a lot of information here: Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) – Surrey County Council, but let me give you a quick and simplified summary.
The UK Government expects all two-tier local authority areas, like Surrey, to reorganise and has confirmed that Surrey will be on an accelerated programme to do so. County, District and Borough councils will be replaced by a number of Unitary Authorities. At some point, we will see Unitary Authorities coming together to form a Strategic Authority. Council elections have been postponed until May 2026 to allow detailed work for reorganisation and devolution to take place. We could see elections to the new Unitary Authorities in May 2026, with a live date in Spring 2027.
That last paragraph is doing a lot of heavy lifting, because there is obviously a lot more to it than that.
Our County, District and Borough colleagues are keen to emphasise that it will be business as usual for now….
So why is this happening? The short answer is that devolution should unlock greater powers to the Unitary Authorities (and funding) covering investment, skills, transport, local infrastructure, housing, planning, economic development, health, public safety, environment, and maybe even more. Giving more power to local communities sound like a good idea if done well, but also has the potential to be, shall we say, sub-optimal.
There are still a lot of things to be thought through. What happens to the debts of current local authorities? How many Unitary Authorities? How do we slice up the former county of Surrey? North/South? East/West? Will the Unitary Authorities just cover Surrey, or will it include other areas too? When we head towards and elected mayor, what patch will they cover?
These are big questions, and I am worried about how little control and influence local people and communities have over the entire process – I hope it’s not a case of devolve in haste, repent at leisure.
But, there are things we can control and things we can’t. Things we can control are our own response to the opportunities and challenges afforded by Local Government Reorganisation. Here are some of the things that are on my over-stressed and over-stretched mind:
Existing contracts should be honoured, but what it our (only human) local authority colleagues are distracted by the job of devolution and concern about their own job security. Will we see delays and gaps in recommissioning?
There is likely to be widespread changes in structures and staff – how will the effect relationships we’ve all painstakingly built up over years?
What about organisations that are operating in, and funded by Districts and Boroughs? Or Surrey County Council? What about Charities that are constituted to work in the “County of Surrey”? Do we need to tweak our constitutions?
There has been little to no consultation. There is an expectation that there will be consultation with “interested parties” but that is not defined (and does NOT include public consultation). How on earth can a single small-ish charity CEO influence the super tanker that is devolution? How can I make sure that all the amazing organisation we support are heard and factored in?
Devolution is all about local control, but could replacing County, District and Borough Authorities with Unitary Authorities and a Strategic authority that could cross county boundaries actually move control and funding down from Whitehall but up from local communities?
It’s really easy, when faced with such uncertainty, to focus on the challenges, but we need to reflect on the opportunities. My process tends to be to think of the million and one things that can go wrong, think of ways around at least some of them, and then focus properly on what can go right. I need to remember to do that. If Local Government Reform and Devolution go well, it could make a massive difference to the people of The-Local-Authority-Area-Formerly-Known-as-Surrey.
And finally, from the amazing author Jasper Fforde:
“You’re the Cheshire Cat, aren’t you?’ I asked.
‘I was the Cheshire Cat,’ he replied with a slightly aggrieved air. ‘But they moved the county boundaries, so technically speaking I’m now the Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat, but it doesn’t have the same ring to it.”
― Jasper Fforde, Lost in a Good Book
