Quelle surprise! Council chiefs welcome devolution

It’s no surprise that council chiefs from across the region have welcomed moves by the Government to devolve more powers away from London.

The attraction for the Government is it loses a whole raft of responsibilities, dumping them into the eager arms of power-hungry council chiefs who can almost smell the money (our money) heading out of Westminster.

But with inflation rising and the cost-of-living going through the roof – why do this now? It’s going to cost £ millions if not £ billions to implement – money we’re constantly being told the Government just doesn’t have!

Ah, but now we learn that the Government is planning to kick many of next year’s council elections into the long-grass. This conveniently insulates them from the inevitable kicking they were heading for – almost certainly at the hands of Reform UK.

The white paper, published this week, outlines proposals to divert authority and cash to local areas, providing local politicians with more control over transport, infrastructure and employment through an additional tier of management – God help us all.

Two-tier Keir is heading for the moniker three-tier!

Anyone living in Macclesfield for 40 years will have witnessed the town’s declining fortunes since the last labour government devolved the town’s governance from Macclesfield Borough Council to the unitary authority of Cheshire East.

Macclesfield has lived in the shadow of Crewe ever since – and in recent years even Congleton – between 2014 – 2023, Macclesfield received just £26m in support, whilst Crewe received an astronomical £141m – nearly seven times more!

As a result of low investment, the loss of most of its outdoor market, independent shops, out of/edge of town shopping malls and the internet, Macclesfield town-centre has fallen into terminal decline. Anyone imagining that becoming part of a group of three massive authorities will improve our lot is living in cloud-cuckoo land.

The plans will not only damage Macclesfield but every other small town within that group. Small players like Macclesfield will become totally insignificant – and don’t believe anything you’re told to the contrary, particularly by those who will benefit most.

And what about the £ billions that this will cost national?

Since taking office, we’ve been told the Government faced a £20 billion black hole. That doesn’t square with the £ millions splashed out on unjustified wage settlements or the hare-brained attempts to ‘capture’ carbon and bury it under the sea at a cost of £23 billion.

If the UK Government has no money and our local authorities are staring at bankruptcy, where in heaven is the money coming from to fund the change?

Think about the inevitable increase in workforce – how many more officers, how many more offices to house the officers – and of course they’ll need a CEO plus a team of directors. The cost could be astronomical.

 A joint statement from leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cllr Louise Gittins, leader of Warrington Borough Council, Cllr Hans Mundry and the leader and deputy leaders of Cheshire East Council, Cllrs Nick Mannion and Michael Gorman, welcomed the development – which they believe will permit the cash-strapped councils to access government funds whilst burying their failures.

The statement reads: “It’s clear that devolution is going to become the default way of working across a range of Government policy areas, and that it would bring significant power and funding to the Cheshire & Warrington region.

“The white paper provides us with the foundation for more detailed conversations with Government about what devolution could look like for us.”

All three councils say they’re committed to a devolved model which would see a new combined authority – Cheshire and Warrington formed.

But get your head around this, despite having to spend untold funds on re-branding, each council would remain independent and have their own income from their own council taxes and would retain their own debts and financial commitments. How the hell does that work? And, more importantly, why bother?

Backers of the plan say it will give Cheshire and Warrington more of a voice on the national and international stage in order to attract investment, while also allowing it to make decisions on things like housing priorities “which more accurately reflect the views and needs of local people.” 

The statement added: “Devolution would allow us to focus on what is most important to us.

“We need affordable and convenient transport for residents in our rural areas and our towns, large and small; affordable homes in the right places, close to employment and services, and a workforce with the skills our businesses need.”

But mark my words – it’s a complete ruse of smoke and mirrors designed to mask the failures of both government and local authorities. Take affordable homes and housing for example, the government have committed councils to building 1.5 million homes over the next five years. A task which developers, councils and anyone with an iota of intellect recognises just cannot be achieved.

But devolving responsibility to councils will lead to those same councils being blamed when it all goes pear shaped. The council leaders don’t see they’re being set up in a smoke and mirrors move to take focus off the government’s failures.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that, despite the white paper only being published this week, devolution planning has been going on behind the scenes for some months.

At a meeting on November 29, representatives of the new Cheshire and Warrington, agreed to amend its terms allowing it to provide oversight and direction for potential devolution.

Isn’t it odd that despite having the enormous weight of far more pressing matters to cope with, the government should elect to make these changes now?

A cynic might believe that, facing a wipe out at local elections next May, the government introduced the legislation purely to create an opportunity to cancel those elections.

If all three councils agree to changes to the terms of reference – which they will (and have probably already done – the joint committee will make recommendations to put to each council for a final, formal decision.

Yes, you have it, that’s a decision that’s already been made.

Councils and government – forgive my French but they must really think we’re all as thick as merde!