The leader of Cheltenham Borough Council has raised concerns in response to a draft letter to government from Gloucestershire County Council about devolution.
Rowena Hay said: ‘’Gloucestershire’s cabinet will be taking a decision on Thursday to approve a letter to government that requests a postponement of the county council elections in May so they can rush ahead to securing a devolution deal that doesn’t exist.
‘’Even worse, Cllr Davies’ letter to the minister gives the appearance of consensus and that Cheltenham Borough Council supports this postponement.
‘’As leader, I want to be categorical that I do not support this letter or a delay in the election and I will be writing to the minster to make this clear. The letter talks about collaboration, yet I was not even given the courtesy of seeing it.
‘’Our county is diverse and made up of 650,000 people across urban, suburban and rural areas. Any reform of local government should follow a period of proper consultation with residents, businesses and elected representatives.
‘’At present, Gloucestershire has no devolution plan but just a hope that some authorities to either our south, north or east want to work with us. For this reason alone we cannot be in the first phase of these reforms.
‘’I am ambitious for Cheltenham and for Gloucestershire and I want to work with Government on the proposed White Paper, but we have to carefully consider and create genuine collaboration to come up with considered proposals for a way forward. I call on the Government to reject the county’s unilateral plan to postpone the May elections.’’
Gloucestershire County Council’s Conservative leader Stephen Davies (C, Hardwicke and Severn) claims the Labour government wants combined authorities which if implemented in the county could lead to the loss of districts.
“The focus of this Labour Government is clear, they want Combined Authorities, larger than just Gloucestershire and recognises that if you add a layer of local government you should consider removing one.
“Only by understanding this can we work on finding a way forward rather than sitting on the sidelines pontificating.”