Norfolk council leaders have expressed concerns over leaked government plans to abolish district and borough councils across England.
According to the Independent, which has seen a draft copy of the government’s levelling up white paper, ministers are looking to scrap second tier councils in favour of a one-tier system across the country, with directly-elected mayors overseeing each area.
The white paper, which will include plans to devolve more powers from central to local government, is expected in early 2022.
But the idea was given short shrift by Norfolk council leaders.
“There's no appetite or clamour for two years of council navel gazing when we should be helping people wrestle with the effects of Covid and focus on building an economic recovery,” said John Fuller, Conservative leader of South Norfolk Council.
North Norfolk’s Liberal Democrat leader, Sarah Bütikofer, said: “District councils work for their communities more closely than any other council, in my opinion.
“If you were to look at the needs of Great Yarmouth, or the residents of Norwich, they’ll be very different to the needs of North Norfolk - and local is best.”
She added: “There are a few district councils - including North Norfolk - who have got good reserves, and I am concerned that this is an attempt to just grab those reserves to feed the black hole that has appeared in a lot of county councils’ finances.”
Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s Conservative leader Carl Smith said: “Yes, we would like devolution, we would like more powers coming down, but local government reorganisation would not be on my agenda.
“We’ve got to keep the sovereignty of our districts, and the county, and work together to deliver for residents.”
Andrew Proctor, leader of Norfolk County Council, who has been keen to secure a county deal as part of the government's devolution programme, said the Independent's report had come as a surprise.
He said: "I don't think any of us saw this coming in this way. We don't really know if this is the direction the government is planning to go, or if this is just flying a kite to see what the reaction is.
"On local government reorganisation, are they saying this would happen by decree? We are still fighting the Covid pandemic and fighting to get the money all our councils need to do that, so is this really a good time to do this? I don't think so.”
Analysis
This is not the first time there has been talk of reforming local government in England - and it is unlikely to be the last.
The government’s levelling up minister, Michael Gove, believes that devolving more powers to the English regions is the key to unlocking opportunity beyond the M25.
There are even reports that Mr Gove hopes to install a system of American-style "governors", who would be directly elected in each county.
The argument often made by those who favour scrapping district councils is that it would be simpler for residents, and would save money.
But opponents of the idea believe that leaving the shires with just one council each would be unwieldy, and make local government more distant from the communities it serves.
Single-tier councils already exist in several counties - such as Cornwall and Buckinghamshire - but those places have populations roughly half the size of Norfolk.
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