Government set to decide on Stronger Somerset or One Somerset proposals

The government is due to announce by July 22 at the latest whether Somerset’s five current councils (one county and four districts) will be replaced with a single or two unitary authorities.

The proposals – dubbed One Somerset and Stronger Somerset respectively – were submitted to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) earlier in the year.

Now Somerset County Council has published a timetable of how the One Somerset case (which it supports) could be implemented – including the creation of a Taunton town council.

Under the One Somerset proposals, backed by the county council, the five existing councils being abolished and replaced with a single unitary council, with more power being devolved to local community networks and parish councils.

The rival bid, Stronger Somerset (backed by the district councils), will see the five existing councils replaced with two unitary councils (one for the east, one for the west).

The One Somerset timetable was published ahead of a meeting of the council’s policies and place scrutiny committee in Taunton on Tuesday morning (July 6).

Here’s a run-down of the key dates:

• July 20, 2021: communities secretary Robert Jenrick MP is expected to announce which of the two bids will be taken forward, with a statement to the House of Commons and letters to all five council leaders. This announcement may be delayed by a day or two, but a decision either way is expected before the end of July 22, when parliament rises for the summer recess

• September-November 2021: the programme’s implementation will officially begin, with a shadow authority being created to oversee the change and an executive being put in place before the end of the year. Pilots of local community networks (LCNs), which have decision-making powers at a town or parish level, will also begin – with the full LCN system being in place by April 2023 at the latest
• December 2021: work will begin to create a new Taunton town council, covering the areas within the county town which were left unparished during the local government reforms of the mid-1970s. The process will take around 12 months, meaning elections to the town council will probably be held in 2023
• May 2022: the first elections to the new council will be held. Since the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) will not have sufficient time to consult on new boundaries before this point, residents may have to vote using the existing district ward or council division boundaries. New boundaries will be consulted upon after this date, being implemented by the next round of elections in 2027
• February 2023: the new council will set its first official budget, including any council tax increases.
• April 1, 2023: the new council officially takes charge with the previous councils all being formally dissolved.

Any new unitary authority will have to pass three clear tests:

• Improve local government in the county
• Represent a credible geography, with a population between 300,000 and 600,000
• Have a good deal of local support ‘in the round’

One Somerset programme director Dr Carlton Brand said: “It is possible that both proposals could satisfy one or more of these criteria.

“This happened in Buckinghamshire where both the county council and district councils’ proposals satisfied test three, with the county proposal being selected for implementation.”

It will cost £16.5M to implement One Somerset if that option is selected, with no funding support from central government for either that or Stronger Somerset.

A non-binding poll conducted by the four district councils found that 65 per cent of respondents preferred the Stronger Somerset option.

Dr Brand said he expected the poll would be “given some weight” by the government – but added he felt it had been “mal-administered”.

Councillor Tessa Munt asked what steps were being taken to prevent experienced staff from leaving during the implementation process – pointing to higher-than-expected redundancy costs faced by Somerset West and Taunton Council during its own transformation programme.

She inquired: “What work is going on to keep our staff in place? I hope we’re not doing anything to enable a brain drain.”

Dr Brand responded: “There is nothing in place to enable people to leave on enhanced packages.”

The leaders of Mendip District Council and South Somerset District Council met on Monday (July 5) to discuss how the Stronger Somerset programme could best be implemented.

Under these proposals, their two councils would become Eastern Somerset Council, with Sedgemoor and Somerset West & Taunton joining together to become Western Somerset Council – with the latter two’s leaders due to meet on Tuesday (July 13).

South Somerset leader Val Keitch said: “The voters of Somerset have decisively backed our proposal for two unitary councils for Somerset – one for Eastern Somerset and one for Western Somerset.

“The local government secretary wants unitary local government in Somerset and ours is a proposal that has public support.

“All he needs to do is make the decision to green light our proposal and we are ready to crack on and make it work for the people of Eastern Somerset.”

Mendip leader Ros Wyke added: “We have a proud track record of achievement for our local communities and this must be built upon in any new arrangement for local government in our areas.

“We have come together to support our businesses and communities through covid, worked well together on economic development and skills issues – these are real examples that show a new Eastern Somerset council will be able to hit the ground running and quickly deliver benefits to our communities.”