4
0
Labour’s plans for English Devolution have received backlash from local authorities.
England is one of the most centralised countries in the world and with regional inequality growing further in the last ten years, the economy has begun to suffer. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2018 household income in the Southeast of England was 5.2% higher than the UK average. To tackle this issue of growing regional inequality, the government published the English Devolution White Paper: a radical plan to reshape local government and provide Mayors with unprecedented powers to help “drive growth, turbocharge housebuilding and improve transport“.
Part of this plan includes combining local authorities into what have been labelled ‘Strategic Authorities’, which will then be divided into Foundation Strategic Authorities and Mayoral Strategic Authorities. These combined local authorities will have the power to make decisions about a variety of competencies, such as transport, infrastructure, housing and the environment. By providing the power to make these decisions, Angela Rayner, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, aims to move England away from its extreme centralisation, reducing the government’s micromanagement of local issues and enabling local communities to respond to these issues with greater knowledge of regional needs.
Despite these aims, the government’s plan for devolution has received criticism from the same local authorities it sought to strengthen. The local authorities have claimed that the plans for English Devolution misunderstand the needs of England’s regions, resulting in both urban and rural communities being harmed.
District councils in Devon have criticised the devolution plans to create a unitary council for Devon and Torbay, claiming that this would diminish “local representation“. The district councils have argued that before any reform to local government takes place, it is essential for the government to consult “residents, businesses, elected representatives and stakeholders“. This signifies how the plans from Westminster seem to misunderstand the complex economic, political and social dynamics between rural and urban communities. The forced political unity of these distinct communities would undermine the representation of rural communities, inhibiting urban economic development.
The disconnect between Westminster and England’s regional communities is illustrated through Exeter City Council’s independent bid to become a unitary authority following the planned local government reform. Exeter City Council leader, Phil Bialyk, has claimed that Exeter is the “economic powerhouse” of Devon, thereby holding it essential that “decisions for Exeter are made in Exeter“. Following an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council on the 9th of January, Exeter City Council voted to submit a Letter of Intent to the government opposing the planned proposal for one unitary council for Devon, expressing the city’s intention to submit plans for unitary status. Thus, the lack of support for the government’s plans demonstrate the concern that combining local authorities across Devon into one Strategic Authority may result in the region being hindered rather than helped.
Therefore, the opposition to the English Devolution White Paper could be a symptom of a wider issue stemming from the over-centralised nature of England’s political system, resulting in a disconnect between Westminster and England’s regions. Consequently, attempts to provide local authorities with greater decision-making power has seemed to fatally misunderstand the needs of the country’s regions. This means that for England’s ‘Devolution Revolution’ to succeed, it is essential for the government to adequately respond to these criticisms and work effectively with local authorities to deliver the reform that the country so desperately needs.
Image: Civic Centre, Dix’s Field, Exeter, Stephen Richards, 2014// CC BY-SA 2.0
Average Rating