News

Buckinghamshire council leader questions government’s ‘bizarre’ unitary merger councillor numbers

Government proposals to increase the number of councillors by half in Buckinghamshire’s new major unitary authority are “bizarre and difficult to defend,” Buckinghamshire County Council’s leader has claimed.

Speaking to PSE, Cllr Martin Tett, who backed the aligning of services in the county that would abolish Buckinghamshire CC and the four district councils, said the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) is consulting on plans to have 147 members in the new unitary authority—a 50% increase on the suggested number of 98 members outlined in the council’s strategic business case.

Cllr Tett said he was “really struggling” with the proposals due to the logistics of such a surge in councillor numbers.

“This is an absolutely enormous number of members for a council of our size,” Cllr Tett said. “It would give us by far the largest ratio of members to population of any council in the whole of the UK.”

The Bucks CC leader noted that the number of proposed councillors of 147 would be more than councillors for Birmingham City Council— a council that represents more than double the population than that of Buckinghamshire.

The proposed surge in councillors could confuse some supporters of abolishing the current two-tier structure: one of the benefits of the unitary option is a simpler service with greater clarity about the roles and responsibilities of those working in the council. Many would argue that such an increase in cost and voices in the council could confuse residents further.

Cllr Tett said: “In my view, it’s bizarre and difficult to defend. For example, with the increase then we would have more councillors than there are for Scottish parliament for the whole of Scotland.

“I don’t see how I can stand up and defend this in public, to be honest with you. And I’m puzzled by why government is considering this.

“In my view it will be obviously expensive because these people will be paid significant allowances, and I’m not even sure logistically where we’d be able to hold meetings, or how I justify something to the public that’s meant to be better value, but when you suddenly have 147 members – I really don’t know.”

Cllr Tett also called on the government to protect “life and death” children’s services in the major local council reorganisation.

The MHCLG said discussions regarding the proposals are still ongoing, and noted that during the MHCLG's written ministerial statement outlined this month, regarding his support for the plans, communities secretary James Brokenshire said: "Whilst I am clear that the single unitary proposal fully meets the three criteria, I recognise that some have questioned whether such a structure might weaken local democratic engagement at the most local level.

"To help reassure any who might be concerned on this, I intend to speak with the five councils to determine whether I should modify the proposal before implementing it, in relation to councillor numbers, perhaps providing for three-member electoral wards. I will also expect the new unitary council, and in the meantime the existing councils, to engage with their local communities about the appropriate arrangements for civic representation for towns and parishes."

Enjoying PSE? Subscribe here to receive our weekly news updates or click here to receive a copy of the magazine!