Last week Norfolk County Council debated then voted to apply to be part of the government's priority programme for devolution. James has raised concerns over the speed of the process councils have to follow, public consultation, and the size of any new unitary authorities.
The English Devolution White Paper published in December looks to merge traditional two-tier system of local government, most often meaning district and county councils, into single, unitary authorities.
Under the government's proposal, Norfolk and Suffolk would enter into a devolution agreement with an elected mayor overseeing a combined authority. This would bring new powers to address strategic planning, housing, transport, and skills development for the region.
Last week County Councillors voted to apply to be part of the government's priority programme for devolution. Being on the devolution priority programme could lead to the postponement of county elections scheduled for May this year, so that devolution and local government reform plans could be developed.
Following this decision, County council leader, Councillor Kay Mason Billing, said:
“While the Government was pushing councils to take a decision with indecent haste and to apply to postpone elections, the alternative was to be at the back of the queue for powers and funding. Norfolk is well-placed to develop devolution plans with Suffolk, due to its work on the previous Government's county deal plan and its close working relationship with Suffolk County Council.”
Speaking in Parliament in response to an urgent question on local government reform, on Wednesday James Wild MP criticised the speed by which local councils have to prepare options and also urged the government to be flexible on size of local authorities to ensure they are not too remote from voters:
“The government timetable is wholly inadequate, having scrapped the previous deal that Norfolk had negotiated without any consultation, how will the public be consulted about any changes going forward and does he accept that a minimum population of 500,000 may not be appropriate in rural areas to avoid councils being very remote from the people they are serving?”
Jim McMahon, Minster of State for Housing Local Government and Communities confirmed the government would be flexible on the size of authorities:
“We have headed that straight on in the White Paper to ensure that on an efficiency basis population sizes of half a million, 500,000 would be the number but we are very clear in the same paragraph that where devolution goes hand in hand with reorganisation that there needs to be some flexibility for the reasons that he has said and that’s our firm commitment.”
