I have literally enjoyed every day of the four and a half years I’ve worked at Essex CC, primarily because I work with great people - members and officers who continually work hard to deliver outstanding services to the Essex residents. We’re rightly proud of what we have achieved and have a typical Essex ‘can do’ spirit and a can do that is always about our residents.
It may therefore seem odd that we are proposing to break up the county council and pursue the creation of number of unitaries and a combined authority for Greater Essex. For us at Essex CC it’s all about how can we best serve all of the residents of Essex.
Some background may help explain. Greater Essex has a population of approximately 1.8 million people that is currently served by one county council, 12 Districts (boroughs and City) and two unitary councils. As a system , we collaborate (we did so particularly well during the COVID crisis) but inevitably there are tensions and what I might call ‘organisational ego’ that often gets in the way of true collaboration. In two tier systems accountabilities can get blurred and of course the cost of multiple organisational infrastructures is hard to justify when the alternatives are increasing taxes or cutting services.
So a unitary council where accountability for people and place is much clearer and more cost effective seems the right way forward especially as central government seems to be much keener to support. But size does matter. Large can provide economies of scale (Essex CC’s children’s services for example is extremely cost effective and is rated as outstanding) but of course you have to balance the economy of scale argument with connectivity to local places and communities. We have proven through our social media work at Essex CC that you can reach larger numbers of people more easily at scale than previously thought , but none the less a recognisable boundary for unitary government is important to local people. We don’t know yet how many unitaries in Essex we will be recommending yet, but financial sustainability will be an important factor.
The possible creation of new unitaries is only part of the Essex story though. At Essex CC we think the creation of a Greater Essex Combined Authority is as important as unitary government. Essex has a strong economy (or at least it did pre-COVID) but we collectively preside over much inequality, with extreme wealth alongside considerable poverty. We will have to build many new houses, but we want to do that well, and create places that we can all be proud of. Essex will need high levels of infrastructure investment to do this well. Our economies are changing, requiring new skills from those entering the job market for the first time but also much reskilling. A deal with central government that devolves some of the decision making to a pan Essex level , combined with appropriate funding is essential to enable us to ‘level – up’ within Essex – after all a higher proportion of children from disadvantaged background go on to higher education in Rotherham than they do in Essex. There will be some debate in Essex about the footprint for a combined authority, but we believe a combined authority on the footprint of the Greater Essex boundary is the right one; it has a sense of identity and is large enough to be effective strategically and be taken seriously by Government.
I feel that one of our biggest challenges as we shape our local government reorganisation proposal, is how we build on what is working really well today but use the opportunity to help us better address the issue our residents face. There is nothing wrong with being proud of what your organisation has achieved, but it should not get in the way of being open minded about change and future opportunities. After all, our organisations only exist to serve our residents in the best way we can and that is what drives us all as public servants.
Gavin Jones is chief executive of Essex CC