The English Devolution White Paper has been in the news but what does it mean for us? It is certainly one of the biggest changes in local government we have ever seen. Soon we will have an elected mayor for the whole of Surrey (or a large section of it). The government says its motivation is getting the economy moving and we will hopefully see the benefits all around us. It will be easier for strategic decisions to be made, transport services may improve. Most of us might not notice much change at first. The bins will still be emptied and the street lights will still go on. However, there could be some downsides. If you need the help of a local councillor there will be fewer of them and they will have more people to serve. Important decisions like planning and building in the Green Belt will be taken by people who don’t live here or care about our area. There will be no Guildford Borough Council. If you like the town’s identity there may be no Mayor and the Guildhall could become a bank.
So why is this happening? Ever since the nineteenth century, governments have been struggling to keep up with population growth and the challenges this poses for local infrastructure and services. Our modern local government was set up by Acts of Parliament in 1888 and 1894 which created civil parishes, county and borough councils and rural and urban districts. The problem was there were still a lot of differences across the country so the 1972 Local Government Act replaced the system with new County Councils and District Councils (whilst keeping parish councils). But even that was not the answer and since the 2000 large unitary authorities have been created with elected mayors. Half the population now come under an elected mayor so this might seem a massive change for us but it is not new everywhere.
The previous government had a levelling up strategy in which councils could form unitary authorities. Surrey County Council started negotiations with the government in 2022. However, the new Government feels this approach is too slow and piecemeal. It wants to force everyone to have these large authorities headed by a powerful, directly elected mayor and it has the majority in Parliament to force it through.
So will this improve local government? It should lead to some improvements as more strategic decisions will be possible and there will be no district councils dragging their heels. It is unlikely to reduce costs as some politicians have suggested so don’t expect a reduction on your Council tax. The same services will need to be run and although debt riddled authorities like Woking and Reigate will disappear their debts won’t and will presumably be picked up by the new authority. The government also intends the new authorities to take on more responsibilities so they will become more expensive not less.
These changes are being branded as devolution but whether this is true is debatable. The section describing housing policy in the white paper is interesting. “Mayors are integral to delivering the 1.5m homes committed to in this Parliament. All areas, with or without a Strategic Authority, will have to produce a Spatial Development Strategy. This policy change means more homes will get built.” So the Mayor will not have power to decide what gets built just how to implement government policy. Is that devolution? The white paper is quite open about the fact that these changes are needed to improve the economy and services but that means they are also about delivering government policy. The government is achieving this by abolishing small authorities that slow down change with local concerns and replacing them with Mayors with strong powers. This might deliver benefits we will all enjoy but it also feels like centralisation on a regional level and whilst it might be more efficient it may not necessarily be better for everyone.
Will it really happen? The odds are it will. The government has the power to force this decision through but one wonders how long it will really take. Reading the white paper it seems a massive change. Merging departments in district and county councils into a new authority might not be difficult but there is still a lot to work out. And whilst these changes are happening local government may become even slower than usual. For the next few years and even after there is the perfect excuse for delaying decisions due to the workload of transition to this new system.
So is this the end of Guildford as we know it. It is impossible to say but with Guildford Borough Council gone there will be no one to directly represent Guildford. No services will be run locally in the town centre. Decisions may be more regional resulting in more building. The character of the town might change. Much of that, however, is already happening. Godalming has a town council which is the urban equivalent of a parish council. It has very little powers or money but does at least give the town some local representation and government. Hopefully a town council will be set up in Guildford which will retain some local identity like the Mayor and Guildhall (if you like such things).
This is a big change. In the short term most people might not notice the difference but the long term implication may be enormous. Hopefully they are for the better.
The following is taken from the forward by the Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
“The number one mission of this government is to relight the fire of our economy and ignite growth in every region…The truth is that for all the promises of levelling up, when the rubber hits the road, central government’s first instinct is all too often to hoard power…England is one of the most centralised developed countries[footnote 3]. Too many decisions affecting too many people are made by too few. The controlling hand of central government is stifling initiative and development throughout the country…If we are going to build an economy that works for everyone, we need nothing less than a completely new way of governing – a generational project of determined devolution…We will give Mayors strong new powers over housing, planning, transport, energy, skills, employment support and more, backed up with integrated and consolidated funding.