I have genuine empathy with my chief executive colleagues in districts, who have the Sword of Damocles hanging over their councils. After years of financial pressures and a ‘real terms' reduction in core spending since 2010, they now face abolition by 2027. This creates understandable uncertainty for their councils, local democracy, staff, and themselves.
Twenty years ago, I was a newly appointed director in a high-performing district council. Four years later, I went through the uncertainty of local government reorganisation. For me, it worked out well, leading to a director role in a newly created unitary council in 2009, and the opportunity to help set up a new council – doing things I could never have imagined in a smaller district setting.
