District leaders to meet key minister to explain devolution plan

The government wants to abolish the current two-tier structure to eradicate duplicated services and release extra funding.

The district council leaders favour a new set-up which would divide Leicestershire into two councils, a north and a south, with Melton and Rutland both part of the northern authority, plus a Leicester City Council , all overseen by a Mayor.

An opposing proposal has been forwarded by Leicestershire County Council, with a single council for Leicestershire, a city council with expanded boundaries, the retention of Rutland Council, and a governing Mayor.

There are indications that Leicester City Council is to forward a third different plan involving it having expanded city boundaries to ensure the new council was financially viable.

Leaders from all of the councils met for the first time on Thursday with interim plans needing to be submitted to government by March 21.

And tomorrow the district leaders will meet with Baroness Sharon Taylor, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to argue their case.

Reflecting on Thursday’s meeting of all council leaders, the district leader said in a joint-statement: “It was good to get everyone round the table to discuss what will be the biggest change in local government for 50 years.”

Their statement add: "Our focus right now is to establish how best we unlock the benefits of devolution, whilst also ensuring the best way of structuring local government in the area.

"It is on this latter point where we disagree, and think the idea of one massive council providing all services for the whole of the county is fundamentally flawed, leading to two imbalanced councils in Leicestershire, and would also fail to realise the benefits of devolution for years to come.

"Working as a group of eight councils, with experience of all council services, we collectively have a very good understanding of what our communities need - whether that's social care, roads, housing, bin collections or leisure - and we believe that three well-balanced councils providing these services is the best solution.

"We've requested further meetings with the county and city councils and will look to reconvene once we receive feedback from government on our interim plans.

"We will continue to engage with our residents and stakeholders on this important matter so as to ensure that before the November deadline we come up with the best possible proposal for government to consider.”

Commenting on the meeting with district and city leaders to discuss rival plans, county council leader, Councillor Deborah Taylor, commented: “The meeting was constructive in that it confirmed agreement to seeking devolution across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

“There was agreement to meet again after the county council elections (in May) and to discuss the final proposals due in November, which will need to take into account the government feedback on the interim proposals.”

Councillor Taylor says County Hall’s One Council for Leicestershire plan would save £30M a year and protect vital services.

The new arrangements for Leicestershire will come into force around 2028 or 2029 with details probably finalised next year.