Government announcement on devolution

The Government’s intentions regarding the future structure of local government announced this week (16 December) by Angela Rayner at last offers a response to the decades-long debate over the best way to meet the administrative and democratic challenges of local government.

The abandonment of Regional Offices that had papered over the cracks in England following devolution of powers to the other Home Countries, had at least led to the appointment Metropolitan Mayors, and many local authorities have buried past jealousies and agreed to merge or to share responsibilities.  It was perhaps the success of these ad hoc initiatives that has given the Labour Government the confidence to bite the bullet and initiate a wholesale review for England.

It has long been clear that District and County Councils, although their elected representatives are hard-working and dedicated democrats in the main, are an irrational, inconsistent and inefficient way of allocating ever-tighter funding for public services.  Years of funding cuts combined with rising demand for welfare services, increasing development pressures (especially for housing) and the obligation to address the climate emergency are pushing local authorities into the red at an alarming rate.

The consequent centralisation of administration in fewer, unitary authorities raises, to some minds, a democratic deficit and reduced accountability, but this doesn’t have to be the case. The network of Town and Parish Councils provides a third tier of government that can sustain the democratic accountability if properly resourced, trained and empowered.

Town and Parish Councils have always been an important sector of the HTVF’s membership, and we have championed the energy and ambition of the best over the last four decades. These Councils have fewer statutory responsibilities, but are consequently better-able to provide local services and encourage community initiatives like neighbourhood plans and place enhancement.

The Historic Towns and Villages Forum looks forward to helping define and spread better practice in local ‘placemaking’, and helping local communities seize the opportunities that the Government’s proposals could present if they are properly resourced and fairly allocated.

Town and Parish Councils, and civic and amenity societies that would like to share their experience, successes and challenges with others will find the Forum a non-political, independent and constructive space in which to do so.

Contact the Forum at: htf@kellogg.ox.ac.uk

Written by HTVF board chair,  Steven Bee

(Image: Cobblestone street with people, Lincoln. Photo by Tom Wheatly via Unsplash.)