Cllr John Legrys, Labour Group Leader North West Leicestershire District Council says:
I welcome and support today’s announcement that all ten councils in Leicestershire and Rutland will be reformed into two Unitary Councils. It will bring our public services under one roof, remove costly delays and provide better oversight of the area’s need.
He continues:
- Enlargement of the City boundary will enable the City Council to build its new homes and jobs locally instead of taking their ‘unmet need’ to North West Leicestershire as we do now!
- Two Unitaries will not only reduce the number of Chief Executives from 10 to 2, it will also bring all big ticket costs of Planning, Housing, Environmental Services, Children and Adult Services, Highways and Transportation under one council.
- Residents will have new Unitary Councillors responsible for all major services from potholes to housing, from child and adult care to buses, from trains to health.
- Very local services such as street cleaning, parks and open spaces, town celebrations and Christmas lights can be devolved to Town and Parish Councils giving local people real control over local matters.
This will deliver better outcomes, better value for taxpayers and pave the way for a devolution deal that can unlock Leicestershire’s full potential - Amanda Hack MP
Cllr John Legrys continues:
We’ve been reorganising Local Government on and off since the Romans were running the country. Over fifty years ago NWLDC was formed by combining smaller Rural and Urban towns. NWLDC, together with six other Borough Councils, Leicester City, and Rutland County joined together to become Leicestershire County Council in 1974, as the Principal Authority for public services. It’s nearly thirty years since, in 1998, Leicester City and Rutland became Unitary Authorities, independent of Leicestershire County.
Meanwhile, Leicestershire continued with two-tier government. It’s not just been frustrating for residents, it’s also frustrating for Councillors. People ring me up about potholes or care for their elderly relatives and I have to say, “Sorry you need to ring your County Councillor”. They ring my colleague at County about a housing problem and hear them say,”Sorry you need to ring the District Council.”
The model of one Unitary Authority to provide for local needs has been in place in many parts of England since the late 1960s. Both Labour and Conservative Governments have introduced ‘one principal council’ policies. Locally, the district, borough and county councils of Northamptonshire were merged by the Conservative Government and became two Unitary Councils in 2021.
Back in 2019 Leicestershire County Councillors, not wanting a structure imposed on them, tried to negotiate with their seven districts and boroughs. They proposed their own Unitary solution: a large County doughnut around the existing City. Despite cross-party support, the controlling Conservatives faced a borough rebellion and reorganisation was shelved[1].
With only 21 English two-tier County Councils to go, the Labour General Election 2024 manifesto promised to reorganise the remainder by 2028. Today’s Parliamentary announcement keeps that promise by publishing draft legislation to replace all ten Councils in Leicestershire and Rutland with two all-purpose Unitary Councils.
[1] https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/governance-and-structure/leicestershire-districts-reject-single-unitary-proposal-22-10-2019/