By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
The public is being asked to have their say on proposals for local government reorganisation in Gloucestershire.
The Government is currently consulting on all three of the proposals put forward.
And these include a single unitary council providing all services provided by Gloucestershire County Council and the six district authorities.
An East-West split with two unitary councils, one made up of the city of Gloucester and the districts of Stroud and the Forest of Dean while the other would comprise the boroughs of Cheltenham and Tewkesbury as well as Cotswold District.
The third option is one which includes an expanded Gloucester city council with an authority representing the rest of the county.
County, Borough and Parish Councillor Martin Horwood, a former MP for the spa town, is among those who believes the East-West option is the best.
“Ministers tell us we must merge all seven of Gloucestershire’s councils into either one or two ‘unitary councils’ carrying out everything from parks and planning permission to libraries and adult social care,” the Liberal Democrat said.
“Cheltenham Borough Council will be swallowed up after 150 years, along with all the other districts. That’s worrying.
“How far from Cheltenham’s Regency town centre or Tewkesbury’s medieval heart will decisions on planning permission be taken? What price the support Cheltenham gives to Cheltenham Festivals, the Everyman Theatre or the Pump Room once subsumed inside a much larger council?
“Government is asking our view on whether one giant super-council covering the entire county is better than two smaller unitary councils.
“I believe small is not just beautiful but usually more accountable, responsive and efficient so I’m going for two smaller unitaries.
“Any one community will automatically have a louder voice in a smaller local authority. Two would be more responsive and less bureaucratic.
“It’s the same pattern we see in business. Small companies are more agile, more creative and adapt faster. Grow too big and that edge soon wears off.
“If we do get two unitary councils, I’m definitely for the straightforward East-West split and not the Gloucester and the doughnut option.
“Some people worry that this would ‘split’ Gloucestershire. Well, we’d all still be Gloucestershire. Just like Bath is still in Somerset and Swindon is still in Wiltshire.
“But that smaller model has happened almost everywhere else that has gone down the unitary road before us. Berkshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Bedfordshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Buckinghamshire, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and most recently Somerset – all now represented by at least two unitaries. If Bath and Swindon weren’t subsumed into giant countywide councils, why us?
“I’m sure they agonised over dividing county services too.
“But in their Ofsted and Care Quality Commission ratings, you find just the same variety as in any other set of councils with many achieving real excellence.
“Children’s services in York and in North Yorkshire – outstanding. Adult social care in Milton Keynes – outstanding. Children’s services in Telford – outstanding. And in Wiltshire outside of Swindon – outstanding. Bigger really isn’t always better.
“Even the financial data shows east and west would be practically equal – an estimated variation of only £20m on combined budgets of £850m or just 2 per cent. The latest government funding formula strongly favours less well-off councils anyway so any inequality is likely to be quickly ironed out.
“EF Schumacher wrote back in 1974 that “we are generally told that gigantic organisations are inescapably necessary” but that amongst real people “there is a tremendous longing and striving to profit, if at all possible, from the convenience, humanity and manageability of smallness.
“I agree and I’d urge everyone to back two smaller councils, not one giant super-council.”
The local government reorganisation consultation runs until March 26. People can find out more and have their say on the official consultation website.