How should ministers decide the size and shape of new unitary authorities?

The government’s ambitious local government reorganisation (LGR) programme will replace all county and district councils with a single tier of unitary local government. Local authorities have submitted their preferred geographies to central government – but with reportedly 70 submissions across 21 two-tier areas, there is little consensus on the ideal footprints of future unitary authorities. Government is consulting the public and stakeholders, but ultimately it will fall to ministers to make these decisions – requiring potentially contentious judgements. Some local authorities favour fewer, larger geographies that offer greater efficiencies, others smaller councils that keep decision making closer to local communities. Final decisions will create winners and losers, and some outgoing authorities may resist the outcome. So how will these decisions shape the success of incoming unitary authorities? What weighting should ministers give to competing LGR criteria? How can ministers balance consistency of decisions with the need to tailor decisions for local areas? How can the government do this transparently? To answer these questions and more, this IfG event – the first in a new Making a Success of Local Government Reorganisation series – brought together an expert panel, including: Councillor Kay Mason Billig, Leader of Norfolk County Council Joanne Brown, Partner, Public Sector Audit at Grant Thornton UK LLP Dr Matthew Fright, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government. Councillor Bella Sankey, Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council (joining remotely) This event was chaired by Akash Paun, Programme Director at the Institute for Government. The Institute for Government would like to thank Grant Thornton UK LLP for their support of this event, the first in a series on how to make a success of local government reorganisation (LGR).