By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Former Cheltenham Mayor Steve Harvey has blasted proposals to abolish the spa town’s borough which he says will take power away from Cheltonians.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Steve Harvey, who was the town’s first citizen in 2021/22, says it is sad Cheltenham is set to lose its historic status.
He firmly believes decisions affecting Cheltenham should be made by local people.
And the former Worshipful Mayor has blasted the Labour Government’s English Devolution White Paper which “smacks of centralisation”.
“To call it devolution is rather stretching it a bit,” the councillor for Charlton Park said.
“We have been a Borough Council since 1876, Articles of a Borough were signed by Queen Victoria no less.
“Cheltenham may retain a ‘town mayor’ but they won’t be the Sovereign’s representative as a Borough Mayor currently is.
“The devil as always will be on the detail, but Cheltenham councillors will also seek the best results for Cheltenham, working with others as need be, but Cheltenham residents are our priority.
“Decisions need to be made by local politicians at the local level and this just smacks of centralisation, which is the opposite to devolution”.
“I just think it’s sad from a historical perspective that this ruling government, a party that was only created in 1900, 24 years after Victoria created our Borough, thinks that taking power away from local people is a good thing. It isn’t”
Under the current proposals, Gloucestershire’s district and borough councils look set to be abolished.
The Government says their proposals would give more powers to local areas.
But it also proposes creating more unitary councils which, in Gloucestershire, would mean district councils would be abolished.
The government is looking at creating unitaries with a population of at least 500,000 and combined authorities areas with an elected mayor representing areas with around 1.5 million residents.
Gloucestershire is currently a two-tier area where local government responsibilities are split between the County Council and district councils.
Gloucestershire County Council provides services which cover the whole county such as highways, education, waste disposal, transport, as well as adult and children’s social care.
While district councils such as Cheltenham Borough are responsible for bin collections, environmental health, leisure facilities, planning and building control.
Shire Hall’s Conservative leader Stephen Davies (C, Hardwicke and Severn) announced earlier this week his administration’s intention to request the formation of a unitary authority for Gloucestershire.
He will also request that next year’s County Council elections be postponed for a year to allow the reorganisation.
The proposals have been met with opposition from the leaders of Gloucester, Stroud and the Forest of Dean, while Tewkesbury and Cotswold leaders accept they should engage with the proposal.