Somerset's district councils back two new unitary authorities for the county
Big change is ahead for who runs Somerset’s key services like education, highways and planning, after it was revealed the county’s district councils will propose setting up two new authorities.
Somerset County Council recently set out its case to scrap both itself and the four districts to create one unitary council.
Which plan is put in place will be decided by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government later in the year.
The Government has been supportive of unitary authorities being created, with recent examples including Dorset and Buckinghamshire.
Below: Both sides of the unitary debate swap exchanges on social media
Somerset County Council says the plan from the districts was delivered to council members in a series of briefings on Tuesday 11 August.
It described the news as a 'u-turn after two years of district councils arguing that unitary authorities were not the best option for Somerset'.
But the four district councils, Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset and Somerset West & Taunton councils, remain opposed to a single, unitary council, saying: "The district councils have been consistent in their view that real change is needed in local government in Somerset to deliver better outcomes for our communities. We are also agreed that a single unitary is the wrong solution for Somerset.
"Our joint work has always been about reform, not simple reorganisation, that will enable a stronger economy, stronger communities, stronger care and stronger, sustainable services. This will include a two unitary council solution."
The full proposals from the four district councils in Somerset will be unveiled in the next few weeks. ITV News understands that it will include a proposal for unitary authorities for both the east and west of the county.
In its business plan for a single unitary authority, Somerset County Council said analysis of costs show the mergers could save up to £18.5 million per year.
But Val Keitch, the leader of South Somerset District Council, said: "This is about real, radical reform of local government and I don’t think the ‘One Somerset’ business case does that at all.
"It talks a lot about saving money, and yes, of course, money needs to be saved, but I don’t believe, and I never have believed, that Somerset deserves the cheapest form of local government.
"Twenty five per cent of children in Somerset live in poverty so we have to do something. It has to be a root and branch - it has to be done from the bottom up."
Somerset County Council leader David Fothergill has led the fight for a unitary council, saying a recent joint project during the coronavirus lockdown shows how it could benefit the county. He said: "We set up one phone line with our district colleagues, it took us two weeks to do it, and on that very first morning we had a call from a lady who had only got a sandwich left in the fridge because she had no food.
"Had we been a unitary, at that point, we would have had a phone line on day one, not two weeks later. All the counties around us that have moved to a unitary status could move very quickly and we were constantly working against having to negotiate with four other sovereign authorities to try to bring in some changes."