District councils face scrapping in major overhaul of English local government

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Ministers are expected to unveil plans for the biggest reorganisation of English local government in half a century on Monday with the publication of a policy white paper on devolution.

All those areas of the country covered by two tiers of local authorities — with county councils running services such as social care, while district councils beneath them are in charge of neighbourhood services including planning and bin collections — will be asked to present merger proposals.

It is likely to mean the scrapping of all district councils to create larger, single authorities of around 500,000 inhabitants.

But the District Councils’ Network, which represents 164 authorities outside cities, warned that “any creation of mega-councils will prove the opposite of devolution”.

Ministers view the plan as vital for making progress in English devolution. They want to create more elected mayors to whom they can devolve powers out of Westminster, but believe that England’s local government map first needs to be simplified.  

Monday’s white paper will also propose new powers for mayors including the ability to overturn planning decisions made at local authority level, a power currently only held by the mayor of London. 

Mayors are expected to win further influence over the spending of affordable housing budgets by Homes England, a government arm’s length body, and the ability to bring suburban railway lines into local transport networks.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the priority was to “focus on the transfer of power from Westminster, so we can give those with skin in the game the tools they need to make a difference and boost opportunity across the country”. 

The paper aims to push a devolution agenda begun by Conservative chancellor George Osborne a decade ago. 

Since then 11 new mayoralties have been created outside London to take on powers over high-level local policy such as transport, skills and strategic planning. Elected mayors now cover around half of England’s population. 

October’s Budget made clear that the government intended some form of local reorganisation. But the scale of the overhaul — the most dramatic since the 1974 Local Government Act — has nonetheless surprised some in the sector and is likely to spark months of rows. 

Hannah Dalton, vice-chair of the District Councils’ Network and leader of Epsom & Ewell borough council in Surrey, said there was a danger reorganisation would create turmoil, while sucking money currently spent on neighbourhood services into supporting social care. 

She said she was concerned that the changes would deprive “tens of millions of people of genuinely localised decision making and representation”. Dalton added there was “little evidence” that previous local government reorganisations had saved money. 

Nevertheless, ministers believe the battle is worth having, to streamline England’s notoriously messy local government structures. 

In areas such as Lancashire, which has a county council, two single-tier “unitary” councils and 12 districts, local leaders have long struggled to agree a form of devolution with central government. 

Meanwhile, negotiations on the white paper between ministers and existing mayors, who currently all have slightly different powers, have at times been tense. 

Some mayors have viewed ministerial proposals as underwhelming, including on skills, although in recent weeks the government has agreed to give them some influence over provision for 16-19-year-olds.

Many also wanted more fiscal levers, such as being able to have a tourism tax, but people involved in the discussions said the Treasury was not currently open to such a move.

Others more supportive of the plan said the paper was more about a rewiring necessary to provide consistency across mayoralties.

Strategic planning powers — including allowing mayors to override blocks by local committees — are viewed as necessary to provide investor confidence and map out housing and transport at local level. 

One local official said the paper represented “progress” on devolution, if not a “giant leap”. 

Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, the only Conservative metro mayor in the country, said the result was mixed.

“I’m optimistic about some things in the devolution white paper, such as greater planning powers,” he said. “There may be some disappointments, but this is part of a journey that’s going to take a long time.”