Abolishing 213 of England’s smallest local councils could save £3bn, says report

Study advocates merging authorities into 25 single-tier super-organisations

Scrapping 213 of England’s smallest councils and replacing them with 25 new larger local authorities could save almost £3bn, a new report published on Friday claims.

Abolishing district councils would also reduce complexity and voter confusion in areas where there are currently two layers of local government, the study for the County Councils Network says.

The suggestion comes ahead of a government review of the country’s council system which is expected to be published in the autumn.

Currently, in much of England outside the biggest cities, local government operates under a two-tier system, with both a county and district council providing different services.

But the new report argues that merging these into single organisations would save £2.94bn over five years – creating a much-needed financial boost amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Savings would come from reducing the number of councillors, streamlining the number of council workers and reducing overlap of services.

David Williams, chairman of the County Councils Network, said the report, compiled by PriceWatehouseCoopers, provided “compelling” evidence for creating single-tier unitary authorities across the board.

And he added such organisations would bring greater simplicity and democratic accountability.

“They have the potential to bring services closer to residents, developing new ways for residents to engage and shape service provision more effectively and enhance local democratic participation,” he said in a statement.

In his own county, Hertfordshire, he pointed out, there are currently 11 authorities with 11 chief executives and 526 councillors – meaning a large amount of overlap.

But advocates for the two-tier system argue such proposed single councils would be too large, centralised and remote to many of the people they serve.

Sharon Taylor, leader of Stevenage Council, a district council within Hertfordshire, told the BBC the county’s population of 1.3 million people made it too big for a single council.

“That is centralising local services which seems entirely wrong,” she said, adding that the UK already had he “least representation at local level of anywhere in Europe”.