By Michael Burton The Tory leadership has admitted leaning on Conservative-controlled councils to drop any ambitions of achieving unitary status. Up to a dozen county areas are in the frame for consideration by Labour ministers as potential areas for new unitaries, and communities and local government secretary, Ruth Kelly, confirmed at the LGA conference in Bournemouth last week that the door was still open for bids. But Conservative leader David Cameron stressed at the same event that reorganisation was a ‘waste of time’ and should be scrapped, even though many of the councils keen to acquire unitary status are Tory-controlled. Ministers are anxious to see some new unitaries launched, but rumours have been circulating that Tory Central Office has been banning Conservative councillors from proceeding with any unitary bids. Shadow local government spokesman, Eric Pickles, denied the claims, saying: ‘The party will not discipline councils which proceed. That’s ridiculous. But we have advised them not to do it. ‘We cannot forbid them, but David Cameron, Frances Maude (Tory party chairman), Caroline Spelman (shadow communities secretary) and I could not have been clearer by stating reorganisation is not sensible, is not in the interests of the public, and there is no case for it.’ David Cameron told the LGA conference: ‘I don’t think we need another local government reorganisation. We want to see stability in local government structures... It’s wasting time, it’s setting council against council, and it’s a distraction.’ But Ms Kelly argued that pressure for change came from councils not ministers. ‘In such cases, where there is a broad cross-section of support for change and where our criteria are met, I won’t stand in their way,’ she said. ‘So we will have a short window of opportunity for that small number of councils which are keen for change, and who meet our criteria to seek unitary status. In the clear majority of county areas, two tiers will remain.’ County areas with unitary ambitions include Cornwall, Durham, Northumberland and Shropshire, although all are keeping a low profile until the White Paper. In addition, Norwich, Oxford, Ipswich and Exeter have published their own proposals for unitary status, although Whitehall sources say these are unlikely to succeed. m.burton@hgluk.com
