English Devolution White Paper: Concerns raised over merger leading to council tax rise

The Royal Borough’s deputy leader has said there are benefits and drawbacks to Government devolution plans – but warned a merger with neighbouring local authorities would lead to higher council taxes.

This week, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner set out proposals in the English Devolution White Paper – which looks to overhaul local government to bring councils together and create strategic authorities across England.

The Government is planning a re-organisation programme for two-tier county and district councils as well as unitary authorities where ‘there is evidence of failure’ or their size and boundaries are presenting problems.

For most areas, councils serving a population of 500,000 or more could be created, but there may be exceptions to make sure ‘new structures make sense for an area’.

Royal Borough deputy leader and cabinet leader for finance, Cllr Lynne Jones, sees both sides of the

argument, but warned any unitary authority merger locally would see council tax increase even further.

She said: “I don’t think we’re looking at anything until 2027 because its concentrating on districts and county [councils] first of all.

“But obviously, the Royal Borough is one of those that has a very low Band D [council tax] rate and has found itself in a financial situation because of it, so small unitaries have been highlighted as possibly having to go together.

“Berkshire itself is, I think, around a million residents overall so possibly east and west Berkshire [could merge].

“I can see that, that would be something that’s on the cards because they’re saying small unitaries should be looking and coming up with possibilities themselves.

“For me, its almost going back to the Berkshire County Council stage.”

She added: “You know about our financial situation and our request to put up our council tax by 20 per cent over cap, but if we were merged with these other unitaries, it would go up even further because they all have council rates above us.

“So that would be an increase in council tax on our residents, by doing that.

“I can see that they’re looking for bigger organisations and if that happens, then we will have to look very carefully at the best way that the Royal Borough could make that happen.”

Both Cllr Helen Price (Ind, Clewer and Dedworth East) and Liberal Democrat MP for Maidenhead Josh Reynolds also echoed concerns over a merger leading to increases in council tax.

Cllr Price, who has previously raised the possibility of the Royal Borough merging with another local authority, said she believes it is a ‘good thing’ that it comes up for discussion.

But she added: “When you get something so big, it can lose touch with the community.

“So you have to put in safeguards to make sure the community’s voice is still heard and all of that happens.”

Mr Reynolds said he opposes a merger for the Royal Borough.

He added: “I would be quite worried if the Government considered Windsor and Maidenhead as a prospect for a merger.

“I think the power should be in the hands of local communities.

“I think the best people to make decisions on what happens in Maidenhead are people who live in Maidenhead.

“I think what we would be risking here if councils were merged is that decisions about Maidenhead were taken in Slough, were taken in Wokingham, were taken in Bracknell.”

But Conservative MP for Windsor Jack Rankin has called for a wider East Berkshire unitary authority – with parish and town councils empowered – in his response to the council’s financial troubles and request for a 25 per cent council tax rise.

Andrew Johnson, the former Conservative leader of the Royal Borough, also supports the idea.

He said: “I [think], it represents a potentially great opportunity for Berkshire and RBWM.

“I know that some people may see it as some sort of threat – that it means the end of the Royal Borough as we know it, and that may be the case, or it may not.

“But I think taken holistically, what a great opportunity, potentially for Berkshire if we can land some of the big investment opportunities that the Government’s clearly looking to deploy across the rest of England.

“We’re potentially a real economic powerhouse, but we’re just not punching our weight at the minute because we’re divided into six relatively small unitary authorities.”