In our last article we covered the issue of Local Government Reform, that is the proposed shake-up of local government structures, abolishing the twelve districts in Essex, the two unitary councils (including Southend) and the county council – and replacing them with a small number of unitary authorities (like Southend, only bigger). We speculated that there might be four or five new councils.
In fact, Essex County Council has now put forward a proposal that there should be just three, splitting the county on an east-west basis into north, central and south areas. For Southend this would mean merging with Castle Point, Rochford, Basildon and Thurrock to form a new council area with a population of roughly 720,000. The government’s guideline for the size of unitary authorities is 500,000.
Balancing Growth and Services
So, this would be a big area – as would the other two council areas in Essex, even before taking into account population growth over the coming years. But it may well not happen as most of the Essex districts favour either four or five areas. This illustrates the dilemma: the fewer councils there are, the greater the opportunity to make efficiencies and cost savings and achieve a more consistent and better quality of service to residents and businesses.
On the other hand with a small number of very large council areas the connection between residents and businesses and their local council, love ‘em or hate ‘em, would be weakened or lost; you would still have local councillors but they would cover larger areas than the current smallish wards and belong to a council that administered the entire area from the boundary with London in the west to Foulness Island in the east. There would be advantages in uniting the south Essex Thameside areas but potential disadvantages too. In that scenario would Southend council tax payers be reassured that a council which might be headquartered in, say, Basildon or Grays would have their best interests at heart – compared to a smaller council covering just Southend, Castle Point and Rochford (a sort of Greater Southend) which might be a more attractive alternative?
Awaiting Concrete Proposals
There are pros and cons wherever you draw lines on a map and we at the Chambers are staying neutral. But none of this is settled yet; we will take a view once concrete proposals have emerged and will want to see a new arrangement that works well for both businesses and residents. But there is an awful lot of work to do to get there so we wish local authorities well in the journey.
For more information contact Iain McNab, Head of Policy at Essex Chambers of Commerce, by emailing
iainmcnab@essexchambers.co.uk.