Devolution – or did someone say ‘fight!’
A return to the bad old days or democracy at work? Gloucestershire County Council’s leader stepped up to tackle devolution and the county began trading political body blows. Is unity possible?
Dear readers,
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Raikes Journal.
Today we take a step away from our usual focus of business, education, training and the third sector and look at a public spat that’s erupted over devolution - a process set to impact all of us living and working in the county.
The end result is being billed as a lifetime opportunity to try to grab back from London some of that which has drained away from Gloucestershire and the regions for years - power - and with it, more money in a time when it seems thin on the ground.
But no sooner have we begun the process to show how we can better manage our county than a gloves-off, public and political battle began with the leaders of at least two of its local authorities attacking the county council leadership and its plans.
The leader of one local authority has accused the leader of the county council as acting like Donald Trump, no less!
At very best there is general disagreement on the way forward.
Whether you see this as democracy at work or politics getting in the way of progress will depend on your view. Here at Raikes we think how it all looks from the outside matters.
If you are looking to invest here, move here, work here, a sense of unity works wonders. Early signs are there is a lot of work to do before that happens. Whether it escalates and gets in the way of the prize, we’ll have to wait and see.
A lot will depend on whether Downing Street allows the postponement of this year’s local elections, as you’ll when you read the piece. But we doubt that’ll settle things for good, somehow!
As regular readers will know we often paywall our Thursday editions to help make this community interest company and what it does sustainable, but we’ve kept this edition open ahead of tomorrow’s full-members’ edition.
We’ve also opened up the comments too. Please feel free. Just keep it civil please!
Andrew Merrell (editor).
NB: Raikes publishes probably the best-read business-related email ‘newsletter’, pound for pound, in Gloucestershire, readership is growing, 2025 looks good (apart from the devolution bit!).
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Devolution – or did someone say ‘fight!’
A return to the bad old days or democracy at work? No sooner had Gloucestershire County Council’s leader stepped up to lead on devolution the county is doing a good impression of fragmenting.
The irony is there for all to see – no sooner has the county begun to speak about becoming a unitary authority, with all its local authorities in harmony under one roof, political leaders are trading blows in public.
Whether this is a sign of things to come - politics before progress, democracy fighting to survive, the Conservative administration at Shire Hall fighting for its life, or a Conservative team that has delivered a local authority on budget for years showing strong leadership - it’s all a matter of opinion.
Perhaps its all of the above and more?
What we do know for certain is that on 15 December the Government announced what it said was a plan to gift more power to local authorities – if they can forge themselves into a structure it will recognise and reward with new powers and money.
In Gloucestershire the smart money thinks that spells the end of the six local authorities, with their teams and services coming under one roof - and possibly even partnering with an area outside the county to forge a large enough head count to achieve the most funding.
When Raikes spoke to county council leader Stephen Davies on the day of the Government’s decision he suggested that latter option could well be the preferable one, and then there was radio silence as we ran straight into Christmas.
But earlier this week Cllr Davies said he planned to write to Downing Street to ask for Spring’s scheduled county council local elections to be postponed so Gloucestershire can concentrate on the devolution challenge.
That’s when the missives from political leaders began.
After years of apparent unity, a togetherness that helped win the county the incredible funding for projects like the A417 Missing Link and which was best represented by the once powerful business group GFirst LEP, there is anxiety in some quarters already about what this means for how the county will be perceived.
More of that in a future article.
Cllr Jeremy Hilton, the leader of Gloucestershire Liberal Democrats and the city council, was one of those who went on the attack and used the ‘Trump’ word.
“There are fears key regeneration projects could be at risk if Gloucester City Council is abolished under a reorganisation of local government,” said Hilton.
Those projects include the city council’s ambitious Forum redevelopment around King’s Square, the redevelopment of the Greyfriars area, plus ‘key housing schemes’ at Whitefriars and Wessex House.
Postponing the elections, says Hilton, was nothing to do with prioritising devolution. It was the Conservative leadership clinging to power in shire hall.
“The Conservatives have controlled the county council for nearly 20 years – a tired and tarnished administration that needs to go,” said Hilton, who was elected leader of the city council in 2024 after years in the wings.
“I was shocked to learn of the cynical attempt by Councillor Stephen Davies, the Conservative county council leader, to postpone May’s elections.
“This is a desperate last throw of the dice to cling to power at all costs. It is shameless and comes straight out of the Donald Trump playbook.”
Hilton said the current city council administration needed another three years to complete its work, and would resist a move to a single-tier authority until then because it would jeopardise its plans.
Hilton, said Stephens, was being “disingenuous”.
“We will press ahead with what is best for Gloucestershire and not be politically opportunistic.
“As one of the few counties proposing a budget with over £32m in investment, rather than cutting services which Liberal Democrats are doing in Somerset, I'm not afraid to fight an election on our record.
“But devolution has a bigger prize of significant investment that the Liberal Democrats are happy to sacrifice.”
Hilton’s statement came hot on the heels of Liberal Democrat Cllr Rowena Hay, the leader of the Liberal Democrat controlled Cheltenham Borough Council.
“Gloucestershire’s cabinet will be taking a decision on Thursday (today – 9 January 2024) to approve a letter to Government that requests a postponement of the county council elections in May so they can rush ahead to securing a devolution deal that doesn’t exist,” said Hay.
“Even worse, Davies’ letter to the minister gives the appearance of consensus and that Cheltenham Borough Council supports this postponement.
“As leader, I want to be categorical that I do not support this letter or a delay in the election and I will be writing to the Minster to make this clear. The letter talks about collaboration, yet I was not even given the courtesy of seeing it,” said Hay.
“At present, Gloucestershire has no devolution plan, but just a hope that some authorities to either our south, north or east want to work with us. For this reason alone we cannot be in the first phase of these reforms.
“I am ambitious for Cheltenham and for Gloucestershire and I want to work with Government on the proposed White Paper, but we have to carefully consider and create genuine collaboration to come up with considered proposals for a way forward.
“I call on the Government to reject the county’s unilateral plan to postpone the May elections.’’
Stephens said Hay had seen the letter in advance and was aware it was only a draft.
“We had agreed with the Liberal Democrats to change it (the letter) to clarify that this is the view of the current administration at county council,” said Stephens.
“Second, why are we looking to postpone the election? We want Gloucestershire to be in the lead of Devolution, achieving it by 2026 hence the request to delay the election.
“This would speed up our access to Government investment that is only being made to council who achieve this goal.
“The Liberal Democrats are fully aware that they are delaying significant investment in our county but advocate not delaying the elections for their own political aims.”
In Tewkesbury, also a Liberal Democrat-controlled local authority, the mood is far more conciliatory and the language far less inflamatory.
In a statement it said: “The leader of Tewkesbury Borough Council, Richard Stanley, and MP for the Tewkesbury constituency, Cameron Thomas, are jointly supporting the move to a single unitary authority for the county of Gloucestershire.
“Richard Stanley and Cameron Thomas want to see political leaders in Gloucestershire move at pace and be proactive to ensure the best outcome for our county.
“With new unitary authorities serving at least 500,000 people, they can only see one solution: a county-wide council that keeps Gloucestershire together.”
Stanley said: “Most residents aren’t that passionate about the structures of local government: what matters to them is excellent services delivered economically and the unitary model is an opportunity to be more efficient and streamlined.
“I believe we must keep Gloucestershire as a county intact: there are some suggestions of splitting into more than one authority, but this would be wasteful and we need to keep the county together.”
Thomas said: “Having a single council will simplify government across Gloucestershire, making it more accessible in service of residents.
“Gloucestershire has a bright future, and that would be best-realised together, through joined-up, strategic planning which benefits the entire county. Working together as one Gloucestershire is in our collective interest.”
In Stroud Catherine Braun, leader of Stroud District Council and a member of the Green Party, was adamant the county council elections should happen first, and also stopped well-short of the public mud-slinging seen elsewhere.
“The process to engage with local government reorganisation proposals is going to take a long time,” said Braun.
“It is really important that we have a fresh team in place at Gloucestershire County Council to lead the county through this process, particularly because central government has said they will only engage with upper-tier authorities.
“The county council is coming to the end of its democratic mandate this year. I do not support the county council’s call to delay the election for a year.
“Local government reorganisation would move a lot of powers away from the communities which we currently serve, and up a level to a new mayoral combined authority area, and we need time to consider all the options to get the best possible solution for Stroud district and Gloucestershire.
“This will not be achieved by deferring elections and going for a fast-track solution.”
We don’t have space to tell you what the leaders of every other piolitical group in the local mix think yet, but here are the thoughts of Gloucester’s Labour Party which is in favour of a very different plan to the single unitary authority model that seems to be on the table.
John Bloxsom, Labour group leader on Gloucestershire County Council, said: “Our idea is simple - two unitary authorities serving the people of Gloucestershire in a way that makes sense.
“We believe two authorities, a West Gloucestershire and an East Gloucestershire, is the best way forward and will ensure we make the most of the opportunities of devolution whilst making sure local people still have a voice.
“A West Gloucestershire council would link together communities from the Forest of Dean, Gloucester and Stroud along the arc of the River Severn, and an East Gloucestershire council would link together communities across Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and the Cotswolds around the shared identity of the Cotswold Escarpment.
“This ambition is fully supported by Gloucestershire’s three Labour MPs.
“These new authorities would work together to maximise devolved powers and really get the best from this new system for local people, with a focus on growth, transport and economic development.”
The statement did not raise any issue with a postponement of the forthcoming elections.
Raikes did ask the Forest of Dean and Cotswold district councils for a statement, but was still waiting at the time of publication.
If you have a view, please do not hesitate to leave it in the comments section. If you represent a business and have a view, please feel free to contact me at andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
(Image by Harut Movsisyan from Pixabay).