Vast majority of district councils wary of proposed unitary council structure: survey
Just 15% of district councils support government plans to create unitary councils covering a population of 500,000, according to a survey from the District Councils' Network (DCN).
Concerns about recruitment over the next six months have also been raised in response to the Government's plans to reorganise local government.
Whitehall proposed replacing two-tier council areas with unitary councils covering a population of 500,000 in the English Devolution White Paper, published in December.
The DCN's survey showed that a clear majority of member councils are prepared to engage with local government reorganisation, with 79% reporting that they are not opposed to reorganisation.
However, just 15% of respondents believe a unitary council with a population of 500k plus would be suitable for their area.
When asked about the appropriate size of any new unitary council in their area, DCN members said:
- Less than 300k: 23%
- 300k to 350k: 20%
- 350k to 400k: 18%
- 400k to 450k: 13%
- 450k to 500k: 5%
- Don't know: 19%
The survey found that the top factors districts consider important in developing credible local government reorganisation proposals are functional economic area (93% of councils), geographical area (91%), travel to work area (61%), sharing boundaries with other bodies (50%), and the councillor-resident ratio (48%).
Meanwhile, districts express significant concerns about the impact on the recruitment and retention of staff over the next six months.
Sixty per cent said it would make recruitment and retention much harder, and 27% said it would make it a lot harder. 3% said there would be no impact, and 9% didn't know.
Around 70% of district councils also reported that they had had no engagement at all from central government prior to the White Paper's publication, while 29% said they had limited engagement.
Just 12% of districts said they had full and active engagement with upper-tier councils in their area on reorganisation prior to the white paper's publication, with 48% reporting limited engagement and 41% having no engagement at all.
In response, Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, Chairman of the District Councils' Network, said: "The Local Government Minister has recently indicated that reorganisation proposals should blend size and efficiency with other factors, such as local identity and preserving economic anchors.
"It is vital that the Government follows through on this logic and only accepts proposals that reflect the full range of local circumstances. We believe that in many cases this means councils should be smaller than 350k population."
On the issue of workforce recruitment and retention, Cllr Chapman-Allen added: "District councils, like our colleagues in other parts of local Government, already face formidable challenges recruiting and retaining staff.
"The danger is that the disruption of local government reorganisation will make these challenges worse and hit vital public services at a critical time."
Adam Carey
