The new Labour Government says it wants to shift power away from Westminster into the hands of those who know their communities best. A concept that appears to chime with what Walsall Liberal Democrats believe in. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-devolution-white-paper-power-and-partnership-foundations-for-growth/english-devolution-white-paper  But just how much power are they prepared to give up and how will it be scrutinised?

Just before Christmas (16 December to be precise) the government published a White Paper on English Devolution. It seeks to fill in the gaps across England between the existing eleven Combined Authorities to create a network of Strategic Authorities led by Elected Mayors.

Launching the proposals the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said the aim was “a turning point when we finally see communities, people and places across England begin to take back control over the things that matter to them”. This is long overdue as England is the only Home Nation which remains under direct rule from Westminster. The other three, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, each have their own form of devolved power through their parliaments and assemblies.

Currently in England, some places have both district and county councils delivering services between them, some places have one council providing all local services. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the area not a million miles from us in Staffordshire, which has both county and district councils. The other side is in the West Midlands where individual councils deliver all services.

The plan is to sweep aside England’s confusing patchwork quilt of county councils, metropolitan borough councils, and district councils, each having their own bureaucracies and governance. And replacing them with a universal coverage across England of Strategic Authorities led by Mayors operating at the upper level, with unitary councils delivering all local services under that.

Currently, the West Midland’s Mayor has limited powers over transport, land use as well as some strategic compulsory purchase powers. The White Paper would see his powers extensively increased some of which might cause some concerns around just who or what would hold them to account.

In transport mayors will have a statutory role in governing, managing and developing the regional rail network as well as taking buses back into public ownership and taking on powers to coordinate the regional road network.

Mayors will also play an integral role in delivering sufficient homes, producing the land use strategy across the region and would be able to charge developers a Mayoral Levy to ensure that new development comes with the necessary infrastructure in place.

Mayors will take on a load of other powers under the proposals in the White Paper which include control of retrofit funding in order to deliver the Warm Homes Plan, supporting business and research and the joining up of public services bringing together Police, Fire and Health.

All in all, mayors under the government’s proposals will have a great deal of control at the strategic level. However, not much is said in the White Paper about how mayors with these extensive new powers will be held to account. Something we should all keep a close eye on.

Beneath the proposed new Mayor led Strategic Authorities would be new Unitary Councils of sufficient size able to withstand financial shocks and achieve improved efficiencies. The government are suggesting creating councils with populations of 500,000 or more, though they are saying there would be a certain amount of flexibility on this. To put this into some kind of context, the combined population of Walsall and Wolverhampton is 554,000.

Now, there’s no mention in the White Paper of messing around with the current set up within the West Midlands Combined Authority area of the seven Metropolitan Borough Councils of which Walsall and Wolverhampton are but two. So obviously there is need for some clarification here don’t you think, just to make sure.

Things get even more complicated when we look at what might need to be done outside of the current Combined Authorities in places like just to the north of us in Staffordshire for instance? To create a unitary council there for instance with a population of 500,000 plus you would need to bring together places like Stafford, South Staffs, Cannock, Lichfield and Tamworth to reach the required numbers.

Remember, at the moment this is just speculation. The White Paper talks about the government working in collaboration and in partnership with places so that we as citizens can benefit from devolution. However, the government is not leaving this major reorganisation to chance. They will legislate to ensure that the new framework will role out across the whole of England in order to allow the creation of those Strategic Authorities where leaders aren’t able to make progress.

In order to make this work the funding of existing well established Combined Authorities is to be reformed but not to the extent where they would be able to generate and spend their own tax revenue. Areas that can demonstrate sound financial management will get additional funding which they can allocate as they see fit.

So yes, some powers will be passed down from Westminster. But it’s not the Federal United Kingdom many of us want. It still leaves the English Regions short of the autonomy that the Scots, Welsh and those in Northern Ireland enjoy.

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