The latest submissions from the three county areas facing boundary review do not exactly display local government in its best light.
Much time and expense has been devoted to stirring up a hornet's nest of local rivalries which will take months, if not years, to die down, and the net result is a complex array of proposals, most of which will never see the light of day.
A sensible approach in each county area would have been to have gathered all the various councils around a table in some neutral venue and kept them there until agreement was reached on no more than two sets of unitary options, one county and one based on districts.
Instead, what we have is a myriad of different proposals, doubtless reflecting local differences, ancient petty grievances and territorial aggrandisement, which simply presents a picture of disunity and parochialism. Bearing in mind ministers' distaste for drawn-out internecine warfare on the unitary issue, the increasing move to dissolving public sector boundaries coupled with local government's own claim to be a leader, not a servant, in governance, the latest sets of competing proposals hardly inspire confidence.
In the case of Suffolk, four of the districts have called for three unitaries covering the existing county based on east, west and Ipswich, while two other districts have called for two unitaries, east and west, and Suffolk CC has opted to be a unitary county. In Norfolk, one district wants four unitaries, another wants two,Norwich, along with two other districts, now proposes three unitaries for the county, while Norfolk backs itself as one unitary. In Devon, the county wants one unitary – itself – Exeter wants to become ‘Greater Exeter', while two districts have called for a unitary based around South Devon and Dartmoor.
As if this were not enough bids, the existing unitary of Plymouth has put in its pennyworth by seeking to expand its own boundaries into the county, while Torbay wants two unitaries in the county plus Plymouth.
Most of these proposals will go no further than the in-tray at the Boundary Committee. One can only hope that those councils whose bids are rejected co-operate fully with those which succeed and do not waste more time in fruitless legal action.
Michael Burton
Editor, The MJ
