Political View: Getting the best of reorganisation

The restructuring aims to streamline services and potentially improve efficiency by replacing the traditional two-tier system of county and district councils.

This means a shift to Unitary Authorities - the model which we already have here in Peterborough

With the government promoting the creation of unitary authorities, where a single council is responsible for all local services, this will lead to proposals to abolish existing county and district councils. Areas like Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk are among those facing significant changes.

Alongside reorganisation, there’s a focus on devolution, with the potential for new mayoral combined authorities intended to bring greater regional control and decision-making.

The process involves detailed proposals, consultations, and phased implementation, with elections for new authorities planned in the coming years. Specific timelines are in place for the submissions of proposals, and then the elections of new mayoralties, and unitary council members.

These changes will have a profound impact on how local services are delivered, potentially affecting everything from waste collection to social care.

There is much debate about the benefits, and potential drawbacks, of these large-scale changes with a degree of resistance from existing County and District Councils.

The reorganisation is a complex process, with significant implications for residents and local government across the East of England. Although Peterborough is already a Unitary Council, the reforms could see a new bigger authority embracing nearby neighbours, perhaps including both Fenland and Huntingdon. This will involve the scrapping of the current county council for Cambridgeshire and all the other district councils surrounding us.

We must submit our initial proposals for the future arrangements to the Government by the end of March, or reforms will be imposed on us. So, let’s put our best ideas forward – there will of course be difficulties getting agreement not only between political parties here in Peterborough but across the wider geographical areas too.

We must explore all options to try to secure the future of the council for Peterborough residents, whether in its current form, or in a revised manifestation. It is widely accepted that as things stand given the level of demand on services and the ever-decreasing finances from government we are not financially sustainable.

It’s interesting times for local government; the parallel challenges of reorganisation combined with the imperatives of continuing to run sustainable authorities. The burdens are many and various, with one of the increasing demands being the never-ending problem of dealing with the selfish and criminal act of fly tipping.

Each year Peterborough City Council must spend hundreds of thousands of pounds to clear up the waste that is illegally dumped in the city and around our rural areas.

I read recently that Thurrock had got to grips with their fly tipping problems with an increased number successful prosecutions, including the seizure of a vehicle, and having it crushed. In the past 12 months that authority alone issued 223 fixed penalty notices in relation to fly-tipping offences.

Nationally it emerged that local councils dealt with a record 1.15 million incidents of fly-tipping last year. Countryside leaders warned that the problem was even greater than the figures suggest as they only include rubbish dumped on public land; additionally, farmers and rural businesses face stress, disruption and “staggering” costs to clear up waste illegally left on private land.

Peterborough City Council has recently set up a cross-party Fly-tipping & Waste Policy Task & Finish Group. As the Conservative representative I will certainly look to the exercise being more than another ‘talking shop’ and work to ensure the exercise develops constructive ideas for us locally to get on top of the challenges.