North Warwickshire Borough Council has raised concerns about a proposal for a single county-wide authority, highlighting local preferences for smaller, more locally focused governance structures.
Speaking at a full Council meeting on Wednesday 15th October, Leader of North Warwickshire Borough Council, Councillor David Wright expressed his disappointment at Warwickshire County Council’s decision to bid for a single, ‘Mega Council’ covering all of Warwickshire.
In reply to a Councillor question, Councillor Wright reminded Councillors that 73% of residents had indicated their preference for two unitary Councils to avoid a very large Council across the diverse area of Warwickshire. A unitary Council for all of Warwickshire would be the third biggest Council in the country, behind only Birmingham and Leeds.
Councillor Wright commented, “Whilst I have had a number of meetings with the Leaders and Chief Executives of the councils in Warwickshire I am not aware of the County Councillors for our area engaging with North Warwickshire Councillors or officers ahead of this decision. I attended the meeting of Grendon Parish Council last evening at their request to discuss LGR and Devolution and it would appear that the County Councillors for this area have not engaged with Town and Parish Councils in North Warwickshire either. If this is the case then that is in my view very disappointing. The recent residents’ engagement exercise on LGR showed that 73% of residents would prefer two unitary Councils rather than one, very large Council covering all of Warwickshire. The County Council’s decision yesterday flies in the face of that result and maybe this is the result of a general lack of engagement by County Councillor with their residents and other stakeholders on this matter.”