Proposal
Our Proposal
There is a fine balance to strike between making radical change and the need to help the people from seven authorities to come together seamlessly to deliver services and so that residents and customers do not experience any disruption during the transition. The transformation of seven authorities into two will in itself be radical.
Our proposal will establish:
Arrangements that provide strong strategic areas and which are:
- based on natural sub regions with spatial integrity and individual socio-economic footprints (Maps 2-4, 7-10)
- represent discrete areas within which people live, move around and work (Maps 6-7)
- economic drivers pivotal to the regeneration and prosperity to the Liverpool and Manchester City Regions, the North West and the Northern Way
- able to work with these wider city regions to which they are connected - Liverpool to the West and Manchester to the east (Map 2)
- able to provide strong, effective leadership for communities that already have common identity and affinity • logical areas for community planning, working with partners, delivering local area agreements and the basis for multi-area agreements within broader sub regions and city regions
- cohesive and understandable places in which the interests of diverse communities can be identified, respected and reflected in how local government is structured and how it works
Arrangements that can empower communities:
- because they are closer to the people who elect councillors
- through simplified and transparent governance and local accountability, reflecting the expectations of the Local Government Act 2000 and the aspirations of the White Paper • through discrete travel patterns with convenient access through arterial routes (Maps 4 and 5)
- through local service delivery centred around local people and needs
- through community influence over service delivery
- of a size to attract quality members and officers and to ensure that major services are not put at risk by the change
Authorities that provide value for money
- through capacity to commission, procure and deliver the full range of services through a variety of arrangements
- by delivering high quality services to national standards whilst enabling local variation and accountability in outcomes and management
- by eliminating the cost, confusion and duplication of two tier working and providing excellent public services in areas that are co-terminous with other public, voluntary and private agency boundaries
- through ongoing gross annual revenue savings of £19.8 million (net £16.3 million) after four years
- with council tax bills harmonised downward and able to make further savings (we have not included savings from rationalisation of services, contracts and buildings at this stage)
Our vision is about the future of local government, not self-preservation. We are proposing the replacement of all seven local authorities in Cheshire and their replacement by two new unitary authorities that can meet the needs and expectations of residents, customers and government for the future of this area and the region. The considerable strengths and energy of the seven authorities now in Cheshire will be brought together to create those two authorities.
If you are satisfied that our proposals meet the criteria we can assure you that the journey to create the new authorities will be led by Members and Managers with the necessary vision, skills and character to drive forward the change agenda. The quality of the people in local government in Cheshire is good and they will come together quickly and positively to make a success of these changes, just as they did in Halton and Warrington ten years ago. They will soon turn this proposal into a successful reality.
Next - Dercription of the Proposed Local Government Structure