Rutland County Council joins Leicestershire’s district councils to voice disappointment at Leicestershire County Council’s devolution move

Leaders across Rutland's unitary and Leicestershire's district councils are in dispute with Leicestershire County Council about devolution.

After days of behind closed doors talks and on the deadline day to respond to the Labour government about devolution and local government plans, Rutland County Council’s leader Gale Waller and other Leicestershire leaders say they are disappointed with how handled Leicestershire County Council has handled things matters.

Yesterday, without the consent of the other councils, Leicestershire County Council released a statement to say its preferred option was for one unitary council for the city and another for the Leicestershire district.

In a statement issued this afternoon, signed by Coun Waller and the leaders of the councils in Melton, Blaby, Charnwood, Market Harborough, Hinckley and Bosworth, North West Leicestershire and Oadby said: “The leaders are disappointed that a statement relating to local government reorganisation was issued by Leicestershire County Council without notice and without consultation.

“As local leaders we are closest to our communities, and have a responsibility to ensure local voices are heard and properly considered in any reorganisation of local government. A single unitary council over a wide and diverse geographic area, which is being proposed without proper consultation, has the potential to be too remote, and inaccessible, from the communities we serve. We must keep the local in local government.

“As leaders we acknowledge the government’s white paper sets a clear direction of travel, but it must be properly considered, evidence-led and ensure that residents and businesses are fully engaged in shaping the future local government of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. We are open to exploring all options, but have not agreed any boundary changes, and are clear that any changes must be based on evidence which gets the right balance between scale and physical geography. Any boundary changes would also have to be limited and balanced. Councils perform best when boundaries reflect the way people live their lives.

"We believe there are credible alternatives to a large single unitary, which will facilitate a better sense of place, deliver savings, boost regional growth and provide better outcomes for our residents and businesses.

"We want to work collaboratively with all our local authority partners to agree how best to reshape local government within our area. We have written to government to confirm that we are keen to work with them and that we expect our propositions to be taken seriously. There is simply too much at stake to have a change railroaded through.”

The fallout at this early stage could indicate problems down the line. Government wants all councils to be within a unitary of at least 500,000 residents in size, which means that Rutland County Council in its current guise will almost certainly disappear.