[Mrs. Joan Humble in the Chair] — Unitary Authorities

Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 10:29 am on 24 February 2009.

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Photo of Julia Goldsworthy Julia Goldsworthy Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 10:29, 24 February 2009

What I do know is that, in the first year alone, the new authority will save £2 million a year simply from the chief executive's offices, so there is the potential for substantial savings. Ultimately, however, this is not just about money; it has to be about improving service delivery. I supported the unitary proposals in Cornwall because I felt that they were the first step towards giving people a stronger voice and getting more powers for Cornwall. The limitation of the Government's proposals is that they are purely about changing the structure and do nothing about changing the powers.

The proposals that we are discussing demonstrate that the Government do not really know where they are going. The initial proposals were from more urban areas, and the Government acknowledged that simply pursuing those would have implications for the rural hinterlands, but they do not quite know what to do about that, so we have a sense of prolonged uncertainty. The Government have missed the big picture. They have been quite clear about how they see the city region structure working and about how it could give larger cities and their immediate commuter hinterlands greater powers, but they have no idea how an equivalent process would work in rural areas. That is the dilemma being played out in Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk. The reason why that is causing so many problems is that the Government do not have a vision of what the rural counterpart to city regions is. As a result, many rural areas are being left in limbo.

Another problem is that the Government's focus is entirely on cost-effectiveness, which is, of course, important, but it should not be the sole determining factor. In the cases that we are discussing, there is a strong argument that the time spent investigating the various proposals and deciding to delay a further decision is a huge waste of resources and undermines the Government's case for the need for cost-effectiveness—a huge cost has obviously been involved just in considering the change.

Clearly, there have also been failings in the consultation process, and that is symptomatic of some of the unitaries that will come into existence on 1 April. What made things difficult in Cornwall was the fact that the time scale was so tight that it was not possible to consult the public in the way that many people would have liked, and that has caused the new authority problems. In Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk, things are almost the other way round: the way in which consideration of the proposals is being drawn out and the lack of certainty make it difficult for people to understand exactly what is on the table and when—or, indeed, if—they will have a new authority. That is causing huge problems.

To draw on points that other hon. Members have made, there have been problems across the board in Cornwall with including parishes in the decision-making process. The implementation executive in Cornwall has representatives from the district councils and the county council, but there is only one representative—the chair of the Cornwall Association of Local Councils—from all the parish councils in Cornwall, and she has only observation rights. We are talking about a process in which councils are expected to push more powers down to a local level and to ask town and parish councils to take on greater responsibilities, so it is completely ridiculous that parish councils are not allowed to participate in a discussion of what form those responsibilities will take. That experience has probably been mirrored in Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk, and it is very difficult to deal with the issues involved when the goalposts keep moving.

Other concerns that have been raised concern the extent to which the new authorities and the new ward sizes relate to real communities. There is a question about how effectively a councillor in a rural area could represent 7,000 individuals, which is the case in Devon, as Angela Browning said. The scale is similar in Suffolk and Norfolk. It is suggested that there could be one councillor per 5,000 voters in Suffolk and one per 9,000 in Norfolk, if Lowestoft is included. It is obvious that there would be a democratic deficit, which would not help voter engagement with the authority that delivers the services.

The biggest frustration for me is the lack of ambition. The proposals are a missed opportunity. The initial invitation went out to councils that were interested in becoming a unitary authority, but such a process is purely about reorganising services—it is not about greater ambition for local authorities. As Mr. Clarke said, why not open a discussion about local government finance? If we truly want to empower local communities and local authorities we must talk about their powers and resources—not purely the boundaries within which they operate. There is an opportunity to be more creative, which would be of real value in a downturn. I strongly believe that the organisations in the best position to respond to the downturn are the most local ones. The present time is a prime opportunity to give them greater powers.

The biggest disappointment, as I have said, is that the Government have missed an opportunity for innovation. The entire process is in danger of stifling any success that we might have seen.