Timing of local government shake-up is 'terrible', says North Yorkshire council chief

Paul Shevlin of Craven District Council said the shake-up of authorities like his - which will be replaced with one or more unitary councils - should not be necessary to unlock the benefits of devolution to the region.

Local leaders were told this summer that the reorganisation of local councils and the abolition of the current two-tier system was a condition of North Yorkshire getting a deal with central government to hand over vital powers and funding.

But they are now awaiting clarity amid fears the transfer of powers from Westminster to a North Yorkshire metro mayor is about to be aborted or delayed.

Speculation has emerged that senior Ministers are gravely concerned over the pressures that the biggest shake-up in local government in a generation for North Yorkshire would bring at a time that the nation is continuing to battle coronavirus.

The increasingly acrimonious Brexit trade deal talks between the UK and the European Union are also understood to have raised questions within the upper echelons of the Government over the timing to undertake such a momentous political decision for North Yorkshire.

Writing in trade publication the Municipal Journal, Mr Shevlin said the revelation in July that devolution would only come if local government was reorganised was a “bombshell”. At that point Minister Simon Clarke indicated that authorities would be asked to submit proposals by early September. Since then North Yorkshire’s districts have been working on a proposal that would create two unitary authorities either side of the A1, while the county council wants an authority based on existing boundaries.

But since then local government Minister Mr Clarke has resigned his post for personal reasons and local leaders have yet to be asked to submit their proposals. Mr Shevlin said it was also unclear when the devolution White Paper setting out the Government’s vision would be published, though officials insist it will happen this Autumn.

He wrote: “One can hope that the Government recognises what we have known all along: this is not the best time to put local government through upheaval.

”We’re trying to help our communities out of lockdown and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic while dealing with the spectre of local spikes, a second wave, and winter, not to mention Brexit. There is never going to be a good time for local government reorganisation. There is definitely a really terrible time and this is it.

“We recognise that devolution is important for our region. But we shouldn’t have to reorganise local government to unlock these benefits. Devolution shouldn’t mean a dilution of localism and it should not be dependent upon reorganisation. That’s not the way to achieve the Government’s levelling-up agenda.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it wanted to “decentralise, giving more power to local communities, providing opportunities for them to enjoy devolution”.

He said: “There will be no blanket abolishment of district councils and no top-down restructuring of local government. The devolution White Paper, which will be published this Autumn, will set out our detailed plans.”

Henri Murison of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said a combined authority should be set up “which can start work on the recovery with the certainty of a metro mayoral deal”.