Threatened district councils have accused the Government of relying on limited and flawed evidence to justify creating so-called “mega councils” across England.
The second tier authorities warned that the planned move in county areas risks sidelining communities and failing to deliver financial benefits and economic growth.
The English Devolution White Paper, published in December, said 164 district councils and 21 county councils responsible for a combined population of 20 million and an annual budget of £32 billion will be merged to create authorities serving at least 500,000 people.
The District Councils’ Network (DCN) said its members would support a form of reorganisation but they “overwhelmingly” believe councils should be closer to “unique” communities in order to meet their needs.
When the DCN submitted a freedom of information request to establish what evidence was used by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to set the minimum population level, the response cited a report from 2020.
The report by consultancy PwC, which was commissioned by the County Councils Network, found abolishing smaller councils and replacing them with large authorities could save billions of pounds over five years.
The MHCLG also referenced as evidence the white paper itself, which DCN said does not include financial analysis of the minimum population figure, and a separate unnamed document withheld from public scrutiny to preserve a “safe space” for ministers and officials to develop policy.
The DCN said the PwC report is out of date as many councils in two-tier areas have already delivered “significant efficiency savings” since 2020, including the development of shared services and management arrangements.
It added: “The report does not reflect the potential for councils to deliver further efficiency savings within existing structures.
“It pre-dates much of the surge in demand for adult social care, children’s services, Send (special educational needs and disabilities) and temporary accommodation, which is expensive for councils to meet and reduces the scope for efficiency savings overall.
“The Government has not commissioned independent research to support its preference for large unitary councils and has done no analysis of its own.”
The DCN added the MHCLG had also made no assessment of the upfront costs of creating new unitary councils in Somerset, Cumbria and North Yorkshire in 2023.
The MHCLG disclosure also revealed that an evaluation proposed last year of “optimum scale”, as well as the impact of population size and geography for unitary councils, was never commissioned.
Sam Chapman-Allen, DCN chairman and Conservative leader of Breckland Council, said: “It is alarming that there is so little evidence to justify the Government’s requirement for all county areas to reorganise into mega councils with more than half a million people.
“The Government has done no analysis of its own and has commissioned no independent assessment. It is relying on evidence that is not remotely up to date.
“Local government reorganisation is not without risk and is difficult to get right. The danger is that, without robust assessment of the optimal scale of new unitary councils, we will get sub-optimal results.”
He added DCN members would support reorganisation which benefits their communities but warned plans not based on thorough evidence will fail to provide value for money for taxpayers.
“The lack of evidence is all the more reason for the Government to give all local areas the time, flexibility and support to develop reorganisation proposals that will cater for local circumstances, reflect local identity and preserve the close link to place that is essential for driving growth.
“Local residents have been sidelined in the debate so far. Let’s ask them what structures and scale make sense to them,” Mr Chapman-Allen said.
At the time of the 2020 PwC report, Baroness Taylor, then leader of Stevenage Council and now a housing minister, told the BBC her local county of Hertfordshire was “just too big” to be represented by one council.
“That is centralising local services which seems entirely wrong,” she said, adding that Britain has the “least representation at local level of anywhere in Europe already”.
“That real democratic voice that people have at local level is really important to them,” she said.
The Government has been approached for comment.
