04A map for wider and deeper devolution

Figure 1 sets out the devolution map based on the principles laid out in the briefing.  The map uses lower-tier authorities as building blocks and defers to existing structures and identities when economic geography is awkward.

It replaces the 317 authorities with economic powers today with 48 unitary counties and two-tier combined authorities, with 118 boroughs beneath the combined authorities. Of the 48, 21 are either the same as today (e.g. Cornwall, West Yorkshire), or involve “obvious” reform (e.g. Cumbria; Shropshire; Suffolk).

Figure 1: Centre for Cities' proposed map for English local government

There are challenges with the map. For example, Hampshire County Council is split into three different unitaries. These kinds of changes are challenging to some people for civic identity reasons, and for others for institutional complexity reasons.

But there is precedent for this approach, including in the local authority of devolution minister Jim McMahon. Parts of what are Oldham local authority today were transferred from Yorkshire into Greater Manchester in 1974. This wasn’t without controversy either. And yet now the residents of Saddleworth in Oldham, because they have a metro mayor, will soon reap the benefits of a publicly controlled bus system that will give them more frequent, more reliable and cheaper buses while still enabling them to retain their Yorkshire identity.

Other proposals are less pragmatic

The map in Figure 1 is more pragmatic than other proposals that emphasise “scale” and risk disconnecting local government from both economic geography and civic identities.

For example, Somerset, Wiltshire, and Dorset all remain as principal local units in this map, instead of being subsumed into a “New Wessex” geography as set out in the emerging map published by Local Government Chronicle. Giving more powers to reformed Norfolk, Gloucestershire, and Oxfordshire County Councils, among others, is more pragmatic than creating entirely new structures from scratch.