Council Assembly to discuss local government reorganisation and devolution

Councillors at Staffordshire Moorlands will take part in a Council Assembly on Wednesday 5 March to discuss Government plans for devolution and the reorganisation of local government across England.

All district, borough, county and some small unitary councils will be abolished in the next few years as part of those plans. In Staffordshire, the eight district and borough councils, Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council will all go, to be replaced by unitary councils serving a minimum of 500,000 people each. The Government expects the process to be completed by April 2028.

A report going to the Council Assembly provides all Moorlands councillors with details of the Government's White Paper on English Devolution published last December, refers to devolution that has already happened and is currently proceeding, sets out the criteria Government is looking for to strike new devolution arrangements and how it wants to simplify council structures; as well as providing Staffordshire's emerging position on both devolution and local government reorganisation.

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent council leaders are charged with submitting proposals for devolution and local government by 28 November. An interim plan setting out where the leaders are with the process needs to be submitted by the Staffordshire Leaders Board to Government by 21 March. 

Commenting in advance of the Council Assembly, Staffordshire Moorlands Leader, Councillor Mike Gledhill said:

"My main message to fellow councillors is to make sure that we engage fully in this process in order to have influence on any proposals and, crucially, that we strive to get the best possible position for the future of Moorlands residents and businesses.

"The reality is we are a council serving 95,000 people and are too small to survive on our own, which is why we went into an Alliance with neighbouring High Peak Borough Council 15 years ago. We have made a good success of that. But with the Government looking for large unitary councils to deliver the full range of local government services we now need to seek new allies and use our expertise of partnerships to join with other councils where it makes geographic and economic sense to do so.

"We are aware of proposals put in the public domain by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire County Council. Both involve the creation of completely new unitary authorities and the abolition of the county, city, district and borough councils. There may be other proposals to add to these in the days to come. All proposals will figure in our discussions.

"Before any proposals are submitted in November, there is a huge amount to consider. Not least how our strong local identity would be preserved - we are a rural area with over 40 parish and town councils we are proud to work with, where we want strong working relationships to continue; the financial position of any councils we might join with and would this be to the detriment of our residents; and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent's position on having an elected mayor and what this might mean for unlocking devolution and, finally, what local government structure would best serve our area in the future.

"We must work through all the options carefully in the coming months, including consulting stakeholders about any proposals and gauging the views of residents.

"The report, therefore, asks Moorlands councillors to agree to the establishment of a Sub-Committee, which would consider all of the above and then recommend preferred options to a future meeting. It will be crucial in helping us navigate through what will be the most significant change to local government in 50 years."

The report to be considered at the Council Assembly can be found here

Anyone wishing to follow the discussions on 5 March from 6pm at Moorlands House in Leek can watch from their own home by following the webcast link here