Whilst this is obviously very early in the process and our views could change as proposals develop and more information becomes available, I have discussed this matter with Joint Residents’ Association . This is the outline of my initial views. The views below are based on an assumption that the move to a unitary authority is going to happen and therefore we have not considered whether moving to this is better than the current council structure.
Having considered the guidance provided by the Government, it would appear a model where Hertfordshire is split into two unitary authorities (South-West Hertfordshire and North-East Hertfordshire) would provide the best balance of local democracy with being able to leverage economies of scale to deliver increased efficiency.
In this model, South-West Hertfordshire would probably constitute an amalgamation of Three Rivers, Dacorum, Watford, St Albans and Hertsmere. This aligns with the group of districts that are already working together on the Joint Strategic Plan and amounts to approximately half of the population of Hertfordshire County. It also approximately aligns to the local NHS Trust area that used to be covered by the Herts Valleys CCG and now Herts and West Essex ICB.
It is believed that a council of this size will be able to maintain a local perspective whilst balancing the need to deliver increased efficiency. It is possible that a three-council model (West, Central and East) could work but would have an initial population below the level suggested by the Government, about 400,000 each. However, based on the new homes requirement from the Standard Methodology, it would appear that the population of each of the areas will grow quickly.
Whilst a single Hertfordshire Unitary authority would enable increased economies of scale to be generated, it is our feeling that it would be too distant from local areas and would significantly weaken true local democracy, so this is not a preferred alternative.
Within this re-organisation, we strongly feel that consideration should be given to delegating some of the roles of the current district councils to local councils where the need for local knowledge could outweigh the savings that can be made through consolidation of services. This could include areas such as play areas, parks, green spaces, leisure and, possibly, small (not major) planning applications. After all, the best way to economise is to make the right decisions first time and this is aided by local knowledge.
Looking to the future, it is possible that a mayor covering a much wider area than the councils could be a good move – possibly Herts, Essex and Bucks. These areas form the Northern Home Counties, and all have fairly similar natures – in particular being largely dependent on London for employment. As such their concerns are broadly aligned, particularly with regard to transport. This would comprise an area with a population of just over three million, about the same as Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. These mayoralties seem to work well for strategic matters such as transport but should not be involved in more local matters.
To ensure that whatever solution is finally decided upon has the widest possible buy-in, we ask that Residents Associations are included in the discussions on this matter, either through local RA’s or through the Joint RA.
Ashok Pattni
