Two leading think-tanks have come up with the idea of ‘federal county unitaries', as their contribution to the debate on the future of local government. Entitled No more tiers – reforming shire government, independent think-tanks Policy Exchange and Localis looked at the possibilities for restructuring the two-tier system in shire areas. Authors Tim Palmer and Glyn Gaskarth claim their new model would overcome the problems of the existing structure. They said: ‘This innovative model streamlines bureaucracy and gives county government a unified public face, overcoming the current confusion. ‘It maintains local representation. ‘It is truly democratic, with power originating at a very local level and delegated up, where necessary.' It would take the form of a county unitary taking on responsibility for strategic planning, fire, primary care and police. But it would also retain local representation with members elected to divisions similar in size to district wards. Powers would flow upwards from local committees, with a county committee at the core, carrying out the tasks local committees delegated up. The authority would be led either by the county committee or a directly-elected leader with the support of the committee.
