By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Tewkesbury Borough Council supports keeping Gloucestershire as a whole county when it moves to a single unitary authority.
All but one of councillor voted on January 28 to endorse their leader Richard Stanley’s position that the best outcome for Gloucestershire is for it to remain intact as a unitary and not split into east and west.
The Government unveiled plans last month to shake-up local government across England.
Ministers say the English Devolution White Paper aims to give more powers to local government. But it also proposes creating more unitary councils which, in Gloucestershire, would mean district councils would be merged with the County Council.
Gloucestershire is currently a two-tier area where local government responsibilities are split between the County Council and district councils.
Five of the county’s five MPs, three Labour and two Liberal Democrats, propose the creation of two unitary authorities.
They suggest West Gloucestershire would combine the district councils in the Forest of Dean, Gloucester and Stroud.
While an East Gloucestershire authority would include Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and the Cotswolds.
But Gloucestershire County Council leaders want a unitary council for the whole of Gloucestershire and this option is backed by Tewkesbury MP Cameron Thomas and North Cotswolds MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.
And Tewkesbury Borough Council’s Liberal Democrat leader Richard Stanley (Cleeve West) also believes strongly the county is better together.
He set up a petition to “stop the break up of Gloucestershire” which has received more than 1,100 signatures.
And last night councillors from across the political spectrum endorsed his position.
“This council does not want to see the break-up of Gloucestershire,” Cllr Stanley said.
“By keeping the county as a whole, we’d see the creation of strong parish, town and city councils and the Government has said we would see increased investment for improving existing services,” Cllr Stanley said.
“Splitting the area in two could mean that different parts of Gloucestershire manage highways, health and social care, education, waste and recycling, and planning rules in different ways, which could cause more confusion among our hard-working residents – and they deserve better.
“Keeping Gloucestershire intact will ignite and see sustainable growth, delivering better outcomes for residents.’’
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Mike Stzymiak (The Independents, Twynning, Tewkesbury North and Twyning) praised the leader for the work he had done on the matter.
He agreed and supported his position and said Gloucestershire should be kept “as a whole”.
“He could not see how splitting the council would be beneficial. It’s going to be so disruptive and it will not deliver as good a service as it should be doing.
“The best way forward is to keep Gloucestershire as a unitary.
“The best way forward is to keep Gloucestershire as a unitary.
Councillor Paul Ockelton (LD, Innsworth), who told the meeting he had been quite ill over recent months, said he felt like he’d awoken form his stupor into an “Orwellian nightmare”.
He referenced Animal Farm, the satirical allegorical novella by George Orwell in which an animal rebellion against a human farmer is betrayed and a dictatorship of a pig is imposed.
“It seems this Labour government have taken over the farmhouse. They are the pigs, they are dictating.
“There are a lot of our freedoms which have been curtailed with little or no consultation.”
But Cllr Chris Coleman (Isbourne and Winchcombe Independents, Isbourne), a lone voice of dissent in the chamber and the only Tewkesbury Borough member to vote against the endorsement, said he feared a single unitary election could lead to a “Shire Hall takeover”.
He felt the best option on offer was the two unitary suggestion which could be more democratic and better represent local residents.
“It could be really exciting,” he said. “You could have two new councils delivering services at a very local level retaining the very best bits of district authorities.
“I do urge the leadership not to look with some element of sentimentality at the boundary county and the heritage maps on our walls.
“Because of course, Gloucestershire is already split into two or three, isn’t it? In reality Gloucestershire is split into the County Council, South Gloucestershire and parts of the city of Bristol.”
Conservative Jim Mason (C, Winchcombe) said Cllr Coleman’s comments were “very interesting” but he supported the leader’s view.
He said to go down the route of two unitaries would be “sheer folly”. “It’s a backwards step to create two areas,” Cllr Mason said.
Cllr Stanley said: “Our county has lots of differences but an east/west split where we have our biggest city Gloucester in with our most rural in the Forest of Dean, there are differences.
“Whether you look at an east/west split or a whole county, you are going to marry areas which have differences.
“We also have a huge amount in common and a huge amount of shared identity. Like it or not, we have an existing county council footprint which delivers services for our children.”
He said reorganisation and the creation of two unitaries in Gloucestershire could lead to a breakup up in services.
“I suspect so challenging that in the end the two new unitaries might just decide we probably should just work together on that one, then.
“And then they would probably come to transport and with strategic infrastructure the county needs, we might as well work together.
“In the end, by the time you’ve picked through all of them, I suspect they might say we may as well work together on all of it. So why on earth would you want to break them apart.”
He said he would love to hear the five MPs’ rationale for supporting the idea of an east/west split. “They wrote the letter without any public consultation or any debate and without really setting out very strongly why on earth you would break up the county.”
Central government proposed the English Devolution White Paper in early December 2024 and a decision is soon expected to be announced which will see a selected number of areas invited to join the government’s Devolution Priority Programme.
This will determine the Government’s position on Gloucestershire and whether changes will take place in phase one or two of the local government reorganisation.
Phase one would see the first set of new unitary councils begin operation in April 2027 with phase two set for April 2028.
The Government expects all two-tier areas to develop proposals for reorganisation and will take a phased approach to delivery, taking into account where reorganisation could unlock devolution.
Further papers will be brought to the Borough Council to discuss as they are issued from central government.