2009 structural changes to local government in England

It is planned that during 2009 there will be structural changes to local government in England, whereby a number of new unitary authorities will be created in parts of the country which currently operate a 'two-tier' system of counties and districts. In five shire counties the functions of the county and district councils will be combined into a single authority; and in two counties the powers of the county council will be absorbed into a significantly reduced number of districts.

Elections to the new authorities took place on 1 May 2008 for some of the new authorities, with them taking up their powers on 1 April 2009. The other new authorities retain the existing county council as the "continuing authority" as of 1 April 2009 with elections taking place the following month in May 2009.

Background

Following the passing of the Local Government Act 1992, the Local Government Commission for England recommended a number of unitary authorities to be created in England during the 1990s. The changes that were implemented meant that much of the country continued to have a two-tier arrangement of local government. Further proposals for unitary authorities in northern England, tied to the option of regional devolution, were put to a referendum in 2004 and were rejected. In 2006, the white paper Strong and Prosperous Communities invited local authorities in England to submit their own consensus-based proposals for unitary authority arrangements, to be submitted before 25 January 2007. Selected submissions went to a public consultation from March until June, with successful proposals announced in July. Legislative requirements for implementation were in place following the enactment of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

Proposed changes

Early responses

Various local councils indicated they wish to seek unitary authority status. Four medium-sized towns and historic county boroughs, overlooked by the 1990s review: Ipswich, Oxford, Norwich and Exeter proposed unitary status on their present boundaries, and commissioned a report jointly to press their case. Norwich announced its intention to respond to the invitation, as did Ipswich and Exeter. In Lancashire, Preston and South Ribble desired to form a single unitary authority although Preston bid for it alone. The City of Lancaster considered seeking unitary status on its present boundaries (having supported a merger with South Lakeland and Barrow-in-Furness to form a Morecambe Bay unitary authority during the referendums review). Blackpool advocated a merger with the Fylde and Wyre districts, which they did not support. Pendle and Burnley also tried to form a unitary authority with Rossendale however Rossendale rejected this.

The Local Government Chronicle suggested that the non-metropolitan counties of Cornwall, Shropshire, Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland would fit the government's criteria, and that the government would be unlikely to favour carving out unitary authorities from existing two-tier counties. Shropshire County Council, as well as two of the five districts of Shropshire, stated that they wish for a move to unitary status. The issue was considered in Durham and Cumbria and the idea of a North Cumbria authority covering the Eden, Copeland, Carlisle and Allerdale districts had some support. The issue was also considered in Northumberland, with the county council in favour of one Northumberland unitary authority. Alan Beith, the MP for Berwick at the far north of Northumberland, suggested instead a three unitary solution, with authorities for the largely rural north and south-west, and an authority for the urban south-east (Wansbeck and Blyth Valley).

Consultation period

On 26 January 2007, the government confirmed that 26 proposals for unitary authorities had been received. Various county councils proposed they should become unitary authorities: Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Durham, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Districts seeking to become unitary authorities on their own were Bedford, Exeter, Ipswich, Lancaster, Oxford, Preston. Pendle and Burnley proposed merging as a unitary authority. On 27 March 2007, the government announced that the proposals by Bedfordshire, Bedford, Cornwall, Cheshire, Cumbria, Durham, Exeter, Ipswich, North Yorkshire, Norwich, Shropshire, Somerset and Wiltshire to become unitary authorities would go into the next phase, as would the proposal of Chester for a two-unitary authority Cheshire and by the districts of Northumberland for a two-unitary Northumberland.

On 25 July 2007 it was announced that the unitary proposals by Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset had been rejected. On 5 December 2007 it was explained that the unitary proposals by Exeter, and Ipswich, like those of Norwich (which were referred for review on 25 July 2007) did not meet the requirements to proceed; but may be reconsidered after the Boundary Committee has conducted a review of local government structures across the whole of the two-tier counties they are currently a part of.

A legal challenge was made by Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council and by Congleton Borough Council to the government's decisions, on the basis (amongst other things) that the reviews were made without statutory authority. The High Court and then on 4 March 2008 the Court of Appeal rejected the challenge, finding that the review had been legalized retrospectively.

Region	Proposed by	Proposal	Result
East	Bedfordshire County Council	single unitary authority	Not proceeding
	Bedford Borough Council	unitary authority with existing boundaries	Proceeding
	Mid Bedfordshire District Council South Bedfordshire District Council	unitary Central Bedfordshire	Proceeding
	Ipswich Borough Council	unitary authority with existing boundaries	Referred to Boundary Committee †
	Norwich City Council	unitary authority with existing boundaries	Referred to Boundary Committee ‡
East Midlands	no bids
London	not affected by the review
North East	Durham County Council	single unitary authority	Proceeding
	Northumberland County Council	single unitary authority	Proceeding
	Northumberland districts	two unitary authorities	Not proceeding
North West	Cheshire County Council	single unitary authority	Not proceeding
	Chester City Council	two unitary authorities: Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East	Proceeding
	Cumbria County Council	single unitary authority	Not proceeding
South East	no bids
South West	Cornwall County Council	single unitary authority	Proceeding
	Exeter City Council	unitary authority with existing boundaries	Referred to Boundary Committee †
	Somerset County Council	single unitary authority	Not proceeding
	Wiltshire County Council	single unitary authority	Proceeding
Yorkshire and the Humber	North Yorkshire County Council	single unitary authority	Not proceeding
West Midlands	Shropshire County Council	single unitary authority	Proceeding

† - in the context of examining options for unitary arrangements in the wider county area.

‡ - the Boundary Committee is asked to advise whether an alternative unitary proposal for Norwich based on revised council boundaries could deliver the required improvements.

Successful proposals

On 27 March 2007 Local Government Minister Phil Woolas announced that 16 councils bidding for unitary status had been shortlisted to go forward for public consultation. On 25 July 2007 Woolas' successor John Healey announced that nine proposals would proceed, subject to the approval of Parliament in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. A further announcement on 5 December indicated that only the five county level proposals (Cornwall, Durham, Northumberland, Shropshire, and Wiltshire) would proceed, while further consideration was to be given to the various proposals submitted for two more county areas (Bedfordshire and Cheshire). On 18 December it was confirmed that the two-authority plan for Cheshire would proceed. On 6 March it was confirmed that proposals for Bedford Borough Council to become a unitary authority on its existing boundaries, and for Mid Bedfordshire District Council and South Bedfordshire District Council to merge the create a new Central Bedfordshire would be implemented.

Single authorities

In the following areas, the existing non-metropolitan county will also become a non-metropolitan district and the existing non-metropolitan districts will be abolished.

Ceremonial county	Non-metropolitan districts abolished in 2009	New unitary authority from 2009	Existing unitary authorities from 1990s reforms	Map
Cornwall	Penwith Kerrier Carrick Restormel (Borough) Caradon North Cornwall	Cornwall	Isles of Scilly †
Durham	Durham (City) Easington Sedgefield (Borough) Teesdale Wear Valley Derwentside Chester-le-Street	Durham	Hartlepool Darlington Stockton-on-Tees (part)
Northumberland	Blyth Valley Wansbeck Castle Morpeth (Borough) Tynedale Alnwick Berwick-upon-Tweed (Borough)	Northumberland	none
Shropshire	North Shropshire Oswestry (Borough) Shrewsbury and Atcham (Borough) South Shropshire Bridgnorth	Shropshire	Telford and Wrekin
Wiltshire	Salisbury West Wiltshire Kennet North Wiltshire	Wiltshire	Swindon

† sui generis unitary authority since 1890

Multiple authorities

In the following areas, the existing non-metropolitan county will be abolished. The two new non-metropolitan districts in Cheshire (resulting from amalgamations of the existing districts) will each also be a non-metropolitan county. In Bedfordshire the new Central Bedfordshire non-metropolitan district (resulting from the amalgamation of two existing districts) will be also a non-metropolitan county, whilst the existing Bedford non-metropolitan district will gain non-metropolitan county status.

Ceremonial county	Non-metropolitan districts abolished in 2009	New unitary authorities from 2009	Existing unitary authorities from 1990s reforms	Map
Bedfordshire	Mid Bedfordshire South Bedfordshire	1. Bedford ‡ 2. Central Bedfordshire	3. Luton
Cheshire	Ellesmere Port and Neston (Borough) Chester (City) Crewe and Nantwich (Borough) Congleton (Borough) Macclesfield (Borough) Vale Royal (Borough)	1. Cheshire West and Chester 2. Cheshire East	3. Warrington 4. Halton

‡ existing district

Further changes

The Boundary Committee for England is currently carrying structural reviews for Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon.

The draft proposals published in July 2008 recommended a single unityary authority model for all of Devon except Plymouth and Torbay (which are already unitary authorities; a second suggested alternative was an Exeter and Exmouth unitary authority and a rump Devon unitary authority. The proposals for Norfolk and Suffolk range from single countywide unitary authorities to up to four authorities in each county.

A 12 week consultation process is underway and the Committee is expected to make final recommendations by the end of 2008.

References

External links

• Office of Public Sector Information - Bedfordshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008 (Draft)
• Office of Public Sector Information - Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008 (Draft)
• Office of Public Sector Information - Cornwall (Structural Change) Order 2008 (Draft)
• Office of Public Sector Information - County Durham (Structural Change) Order 2008 (Draft)
• Office of Public Sector Information - Northumberland (Structural Change) Order 2008 (Draft)
• Office of Public Sector Information - Shropshire (Structural Change) Order 2008 (Draft)
• Office of Public Sector Information - Wiltshire (Structural Change) Order 2008 (Draft)