PARTY leaders have united at Worcester City Council to fight plans to postpone the next local election.
The council’s three group leaders have written to Jim McMahon, minister of state, housing, communities and local Government, asking him to reject the request made by Worcestershire County Council to postpone this year’s May election.
Lynn Denham (Labour), Louis Stephen (Green) and Karen Holmes (Liberal Democrat) have welcomed the Government’s proposals to devolve more powers to local communities but are united in the view that the May election should go ahead as planned.
An extract from their joint letter reads: “If the election is postponed, then Worcestershire councils will only have a few short months to make proposals which will change the local landscape for generations to come.
“Over the past few weeks, Worcestershire County Council has already failed to share information or work collaboratively with us. We were not informed that the County Council intended to submit a letter seeking postponement, and the contents of the letter were not shared with us until after it had been submitted. This most critical matter of local government was not even put on the agenda of the scheduled County Council meeting on January 9.
“This has led to a fundamental breakdown in trust and confidence between partners and leaves us in no position to work collaboratively to submit a local government reorganisation proposal in accordance with the priority timetable.
We cannot accept a continuation of this unilateral approach over the next few critical months. More time, and a fresh political mandate in May, is required. This will ensure that the requirements of the White Paper can be met, in a spirit of genuine co-operation, without the need for subsequent ministerial intervention.”
At the end of last week the County Council put in its bid to the minister of state, housing, communities and local Government for a unitary authority in Worcestershire.
If approved, countywide elections would be delayed until May 2026 with a view to electing councillors to a new unitary authority to directly replace the county’s existing devolved councils in rural districts.
The move has been made in response to the Labour government’s devolution white paper and would postpone elections for all 57 seats on Worcestershire County Council scheduled for May 1.
Currently, Worcestershire operates under a two-tier authority system with Worcestershire County Council responsible for services including highways and social care and six district councils in charge of planning and housing.
Under Labour’s devolution white paper proposals they are arguing that single tier authorities will help streamline local government services and are inviting councils to submit proposals for changes before March.
