Letter to Editor: Petition on Local Government Re-organisation
Politics / Mon 29th Sep 2025 at 07:57am
THE Government set a deadline of 26 September for councils in Essex to submit a case for change in local government re-organsiation.
A Harlow Alliance Party spokesperson said: “Officers and councillors across Essex have spent thousands of hours to come up with a creditable plan by the deadline.
“You might just think that the fifteen councils that make up Essex, a tiny dot on the planet would come up with a consensus of an opinion but it is now clear that this is not to be the case.
We have councils who believe that Greater Essex is best suited with three Unitary authorities, one believes four, yet another a different version with four and others with five.
‘What is striking is that much of the work undertaken strives to save money but provides little evidence about service improvements or retains community identity. The power to govern us will be placed in far fewer hands, here in Harlow we could end up with just fifteen councillors out of eighty three in a new district, leaving democracy in tatters. Even those supporting change have great reservations and so they should.
“Whilst residents will be asked to comment on the proposal later this year, the real test will come next May, assuming of course that local elections are not cancelled again. Harlow Alliance would again urge readers from all political parties or none to join with us and sign the re-launched petittion objecting to any attempt to cancel the elections.
The petition can be found here.
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/vote
David Forman
2025-09-29 08:06:44
I'm sure that Nicholas Taylor would agree that this mess has proved beneficial for accountants and auditors like Grant Thornton and proved a headache for the local Labour Group who have slavishly followed Starmer down this rabbit hole. The main justification of cost saving is at the expense of local democracy and by the time new Oracle computer systems are in place there won't be a lot saved.
Guy Flegman
2025-09-29 11:32:30
Why? It’s not like we are awash with cash. It is widely accepted you need to earn £60k to be a net contributor to the state. This is nearly double the national average wage. This tells you the state is spending well beyond its means. It’s also worth noting that £82k puts you in the top 5% of earners. This tells us that there are not many rich people left to tax. The government needs to get a grip and start prioritising its spending on the essentials other wise bad things will happen.
Seamus
2025-09-29 23:14:39
I have no doubt Labour and the Conservatives will seek to ban the May elections once more next year. They know Labours position will only get worse after the budget and both of the main parties are very afraid of Reform taking most of Essex by voters who want to teach the conventional parties a lesson. If they do then they will be in for one hell of a shellacking at the general election only a few years later.
Colleen Morrison
2025-09-30 07:15:55
I agree with Nicholas Taylor and David Foreman regarding this ill conceived local government reorganisation. This is being imposed top down by the Labour government and it is shockingly based on just one out of date report by Price Waterhouse Cooper. This will in my opinion, result in a costly, almighty mess, which diminishes democratic accountability, diminishes services and increases cost to the council tax payer. Both the District Councils Network and the County Councils Network are highly critical of form of reorganisation being forced on councils by the government, without the safeguards of due scrutiny and due impact assessments by the government.
Colleen Morrison
2025-09-30 07:23:22
A BBC report stated the government has confirmed it has not carried out its own analysis of the potential costs and savings of its proposed programme. That is unbelievable, it amounts to appalling dereliction of duty by the government.
Colleen Morrison
2025-09-30 07:38:52
Cllr Chapman-Allen, Chair of the District Councils Network, said: "Mega councils, with populations of half a million people or more, could be imposed on areas when there's no independent, up-to-date evidence to justify councils of this size, and many large councils created previously are struggling financially...However, we remain concerned over the potential costs of reorganisation where proposals seek to replace the two-tier system with multiple small unitary councils." The Chair of the County Councils Network, Cllr Oliver, said it is "absolutely essential" that the Government scrutinises and rigorously evaluates all reorganisation proposals against their own statutory criteria, including ensuring new councils are the right size to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks. He added: "The danger is that despite the huge expense that's going into reorganising local government, it will lead to poor results, failing to offer value to council tax bill payers, and diminishing vital services such as housing, leisure centres and parks, which face cuts to shore up social care. https://www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/governance/396-governance-news/62082-county-councils-network-remains-concerned-about-financial-implications-of-local-government-reorganisation-if-it-only-creates-small-unitaries "Reorganisation should be an opportunity to reform the entire local public sector, to drive growth, improve public wellbeing and enhance local democracy. If we go ahead without evidence of what works, we'll miss a rare opportunity to rethink the local state."
Nicholas Taylor
2025-09-30 12:48:10
And yet Colleen, we have the Conservative Leader of Essex County Council extolling the virtues of reorganisation and the creation of just three Unitary Authorities in Greater Essex. As for it's all Labours fault, well having come up with completely different views, Essex County Council should have advised the Government that it would withdraw its application. Bearing in mind the dire situation that Labour and indeed your Party find themselves in, pursuing any option is electoral suicide, letting Reform and other Parties gain power, afterall every other Party are vowing to ditch any change.
Leave a Comment Below:
7 Comments for Letter to Editor: Petition on Local Government Re-organisation: