Issue - meetings

Motion

Meeting: 21/11/2018 - Council (Item 64)

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Unitary Authorities

Members considered the following Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor C. Hotham:

As local councils come under more and more financial pressure all possible efficiencies/savings must be considered. Across the country some two tier council areas are actively forming unitary authorities which they believe will bring very considerable cost savings.

The motion is:

“BDC will actively engage, through a cross party working group, with the county and other district councils to assess the feasibility and benefit of the formation of one or two unitary authorities for the whole of Worcestershire.”

The motion was proposed by Councillor C. Hotham and seconded by Councillor S. Baxter.

In proposing the motion Councillor Hotham commented that it was important to ensure that local government in Worcestershire was placed on a secure footing whilst delivering good public services. The extent to which a single or two unitary authorities in the county would resolve the financial difficulties facing local government needed to be clarified. Councillor Hotham explained that he was not necessarily advocating the introduction of one or more unitary authorities but he felt that this subject had not been investigated enough to date and it was important to be prepared in case at a later date Worcestershire was placed in a position where one or more unitary authorities would need to be introduced. Worcestershire County Council was aiming to save £32 million and this could have implications for public services moving forward. Councillor Hotham quoted research undertaken by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) which had found that significant financial savings could be achieved when unitary Councils were introduced. Members were also asked to note that two-tier local government could be much more confusing for residents than unitary authorities as it was not always clear to local communities which Council delivered which services.

In seconding the motion Councillor Baxter commented that it was important to investigate the potential to introduce a unitary or multiple unitary authorities in Worcestershire in more detail. It would take time to introduce a single or multiple unitary authorities in the county. Bromsgrove District Council’s boundaries were bordered by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Birmingham City Council. In every case the Council Tax they charged their residents for properties was lower than in Bromsgrove district. Councillor Baxter suggested that the public should have a right to a say over whether there continued to be two-tier local government in the area and an explanation as to why two-tier authority working was potentially more expensive than having a unitary authority. There was the potential to make financial savings from replacing the six district Councils and one County Council with a single or multiple unitary authorities.

Councillor G. Denaro noted that having listened closely to the points raised in the motion he would always be willing to engage with any other parties who could help to improve the Council’s efficiency and provision of services to the authority’s customers. The question of unitary authorities had been raised by another Councillor at a recent ... view the full minutes text for item 64