County and districts row over research into future of local government

A row has broken out between a county council and four districts over the commissioning of research into the future of local government in the area.

The four district councils in Buckinghamshire ­– Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe – said this week that they had decided to commission a “totally independent” review.

They turned down an approach by Buckinghamshire County Council about joining with it in preparing a business case for a single unitary authority.

The districts said their review would seek to find the best option for the future structure of local government to serve the population – “an option that will strengthen local decision making, improve local service, and save taxpayers’ money”.

Cllr Neil Blake, Leader of Aylesbury Vale District Council, said: “The district councils want to ensure that any changes to the structure of local governance in Buckinghamshire are in the best interest of our residents and protect high quality services within the finances available.”

Cllr Katrina Wood, Leader of Wycombe District Council, added: “Our concerns that the work already initiated by the county, given its pre-determined outcome, are such that we feel it to be in our residents’ best interests to jointly commission our own study into potential alternative local governance structures, keeping an open mind as to what the outcome may be.”

The four councils said they would seek to share information on finances and service delivery with the county council so that both reviews were based on the same data sets.

Responding to the districts’ announcement, Cllr Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, said: “We welcome the fact that the four district councils have all now recognised the need to modernise local government in Buckinghamshire.  But we have been clear for some time that local government can no longer afford the muddle and cost of having parish/town, district and county councils covering the same area. Why do we need so many chief executives, finance and personnel departments etc. when we should be spending this money on services for residents?

“We are disappointed that the four district councils have apparently chosen to commit £200,000 of hard pressed taxpayers’ money on external management consultants without discussing their ideas with the county council.”

Cllr Tett added: “The county council took the decision in early May to look at options for modernising local government in Buckinghamshire including developing a business case for a new, single unitary council for Buckinghamshire, and we invited the district councils to work with us in evaluating any other options based on common methodology and shared evidence base. Only today, six weeks later, have we received a response to our invitation refusing our offer to work together in the interests of residents.

“The fact that the district leaders have refused to work with us and indeed have used taxpayers’ money to fund expensive management consultants is regrettable.”

Cllr Tett claimed that “massive financial savings” that could be achieved by a new, single council through increased economies of scale.