Earlier this week the DCLG announced the results of the bids for unitary status that had been made earlier in the year by many councils up and down the country.
The successful bids are:
|
Councils Submitting Proposals |
Proposed unitary structure |
|
Bedford Borough Council |
Bedford Unitary |
|
Chester City Council |
2 Unitary Cheshire |
|
Cornwall County Council |
County Unitary |
|
Durham County Council |
County Unitary |
|
Exeter City Council |
Exeter Unitary |
|
Ipswich Borough Council |
Ipswich Unitary |
|
Northumberland County Council |
County Unitary |
|
Shropshire County Council |
County Unitary |
|
Wiltshire County Council |
County Unitary |
I don’t want to get into the rights and wrongs of the move. The drivers seem to be efficiency and cost savings and that is not our bag. One observation I will make is that on the whole County Councillors that we deal with tend to be more corporate, more professional and less personal than the District Councillors we deal with (Unitary and Metropolitan’s are a mixed bag). This is not a criticism, nor unexpected, but I would advise councillors in the new County Unitaries not to lose the personality and time for constituents that District Councillors seemed to have.
On another aspect I am intrigued how Bedfordshire, Devon, and Suffolk will deal with their County Halls. I see Nottinghamshire craftily ensured that their County Hall is just south of the Trent in their own authority, but Leicestershire seem to remain in the Leicester unitary authority.
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