Lack of government lawyers delaying preparations for council merger

A lack of government lawyers as a result of Brexit is to blame for delays in producing the necessary orders for a merger of two local authorities in the South West of England, it has been claimed.

The County Gazette has reported that three orders from central government are needed to transfer all the necessary legal powers to the authority that will take over from Taunton Deane Borough Council and West Somerset District Council.

An apppendix to a paper presented at a meeting of Taunton Deane’s scrutiny committee last week said: "Still waiting on MHCLG [the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government] finalising - Brexit impacting on MHCLG's ability to access lawyers in a timely fashion.

"As long as final version is very similar to draft sould not cause too great an issue. The uncertainty is the concern however."

The appendix said a general order had been due to be published on 24 July this year.

The merger of Taunton Deane and West Somerset was backed in March by the then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid.