Local government reorganisation is a crisis of trust

Words cannot really express my immense disappointment and anger over the Government's calamity local government reorganisation (LGR) announcements this week. As leader of Essex CC, I initiated the vision of a simpler local government structure across Greater Essex under the last Conservative Government and I carried that process on, in good faith, with the Labour Government following the 2024 General Election. Little did I know then that the Labour machine would use LGR as a disguise for something completely different.If I strip the politics out of this entirely, the engagement with the minister for local government during 2025, Jim McMahon MP, was a truly equal one. As a Conservative, I may not agree with everything Jim says and does, but there was nevertheless a relationship which allowed for conversations on matters of substance. This completely changed when Steve Reed MP became the secretary of state.Instead, the engagement in the months after became limited and Leaders' Council became too scripted when instead the secretary of state should have had an open, honest discussion with council leaders on LGR. If he had listened to us, perhaps the Labour Government wouldn't be in the mess they're in now.What I know now is that LGR was never about simplifying local government, or devolution for that matter. It was about depleting the Conservative councillor base in the shire counties of England. Let us not forget that the previous Labour administration under Gordon Brown attempted to do this in that Government's dying days; however, it was fundamentally struck down following judicial reviews. This process was about revenge, plain and simple!Why do we know this? Simple. As part of the Structural Changes Order process, local authorities were asked to submit proposals for interim warding arrangements. During this, we saw highly questionable proposals put forward by Labour authorities. In reality, there is no reason why the Government could not have taken the approach of the previous Conservative Government when it came to interim warding arrangements in new unitary authorities like Buckinghamshire, where shadow boundaries were based upon existing district wards.In my honest view, the Government has now exhausted all patience with council leaders on LGR, and I would be surprised if leaders, regardless of political colour, decided to engage further with Government on LGR. If Jim McMahon is reading this piece, though, I would strongly suggest, in the spirit of honesty, that all legal opinions given to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government regarding the LGR process be disclosed through a Humble Address to Parliament.More importantly, at a time when local government resources are scarce, our councils have spent millions on the LGR process to date. A combination of consultancy fees, transitional arrangements, employment changes, to name just a few, have depleted millions from town hall budgets which could have been spent on sorting the issues that our residents on the doorsteps care about most: re-surfacing roads, protecting regular bin collections, removing fly-tipping, and creating opportunity for the communities we serve. These announcements will create severe fiscal restraints on budgets ahead of February and a finance settlement which doesn't reflect this will not land well with the sector. I have asked the Local Government Association, which I am the senior vice chairman of, to model LGR spend to date.Politically, this has created a mess. Lots of hard-working district councillors in particular have taken the decision in good faith to stand down and begin the transition with appointed candidates, just to learn that they could, in turn, now seek re-election, having probably made lots of changes to their family lives. We need to remember the human side of this. Lots of council officers will be rightfully perplexed, and the state of the process essentially makes local government as a whole look chaotic to residents.Unitarisation could, if done correctly and in true cooperation with local leaders, have been a success and been of substantial benefit to residents. Instead, this Government has single-handedly destroyed the principle of simplifying local government, and that is by some margin a sad state of affairs.On the 26 March, the former shadow secretary of state for local Government, Sir James Cleverly MP, asked ‘whether these reforms are an act of gross gerrymandering and political opportunism, or gross incompetence and stupidity'. Regrettably, I think the answer to this question is both! Cllr Kevin Bentley is senior vice chairman and Conservative group leader at the Local Government Association and former leader of Essex CC

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Local government reorganisation is a crisis of trust

By Cllr Kevin Bentley | 10 September 2026

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