Devolution plan brings right to buy – and a shake-up for some co-op councils

Co-op Party chair Jim McMahon welcomed ‘a significant step forward for the community power agenda’

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has set out plans for a major reorganisation of local government, which would give every region a mayor with extra powers – but also merge authorities in two-tier areas to streamline services.

Rayner told the BBC she wanted to give regional mayors more powers over housing, transport, education and employment in a bid to drive economic growth.

The devolution white paper also contains proposals on the community right to buy for local assets, promised by the government in its manifesto. This measure was welcomed by community business organisations like Locality and heralded by Co-op Party chair Jim McMahon as ”a significant step forward for the community power agenda that Co-operative Party members have been at the heart of supporting”.

In an email to Party supporters, he said: “When vital community spaces are at risk of being sold, we’re giving local people the first chance to own them – local pubs, community centres, sports clubs – all the things that make your community what it is today can stay in community hands.

“That’s the difference co-operation in government can achieve – taking power to give it back to the people who know how to use it best.”

Tony Armstrong, chief executive of Locality, said: “The English Devolution White Paper has shown that this government understands the huge potential of devolving powers to the people, and communities, who are best placed to make decisions. This marks a significant shift towards giving people more control over the future of their areas.   

“Crucially, the White Paper emphasises the need for the right powers at the right level, with devolution not stopping with mayors but flowing onwards into neighbourhoods and communities.” 

He added: “We applaud the introduction of the Community Right to Buy, a key demand of the We’re Right Here campaign. Giving communities the first option to buy land or buildings of community interest when they come up for sale will help protect the places and spaces our communities love and rely on. We know long-term sustainable funding streams will be vital in maximising the value of this powerful new right.  

“The White Paper makes it clear there is scope for further community rights, particularly through strengthening partnerships between councils and communities. This is a huge opportunity to bring to an end decades of over-centralisation. We look forward to working with the government to help make it happen”.

More contentious are proposals to merge areas where there are currently two tiers of local authority – larger county councils and smaller district councils – in a bid to streamline services. The plans would scrap the current system in favour of the metro mayoral model operating in regions like Greater Manchester. The district councils would to form larger units under the umbrella of a combined authority, led by a mayor with increased powers under devolution.

Labour says the plans will save on costs by making service delivery more efficient, and would decentralise power. Ministers expect district councils in affected areas to work together to find a mutually agreeable arrangement on the way forward.

“In micromanaging by central government and short-term sticky-plaster politics, you’ve got a doom loop of real problems going unaddressed in Britain’s regions,” said Rayner, announcing the plans.

She added: “Devolution will no longer be agreed by the whim of a minister in Whitehall. It will now be default in our constitution. We are moving away from an ad-hoc system and towards a simpler and more ambitious framework for devolution.”

The plans were welcomed by Cllr Jim Robbins, chair of the Co-operative Councils Innovation Nework, who said: “We welcome the move to bring power out of Whitehall and closer to the people. We were pleased to see the commitment to community right to buy in the white paper, and our members will be working hard over the coming months to develop plans that work for their residents and places, and hope cooperative policies will feature highly in the new strategic authorities.”

Robbins is leader of Swindon Borough Council which, as a unitary authority, does not come under the reform plan – although it has been invited to join the proposed Heart of Wessex Mayoral Strategic Authority.

Other CCIN authorities will be affected by the changes, including Oxford City Council, which has welcomed the proposals and says it is in discussion with neighbouring councils in Oxfordshire and Berkshire about the creation of a Thames Valley Combined Mayoral Authority.

Preston City Council, a pioneer of community wealth building, will also be affected, as one of 15 district councils operating in a tier below Lancashire County Council. The government proposes replacing this set-up with four larger authorities operating under the umbrella of a combined regional authority, led by a mayor with increased devolution powers.

Cllr Matthew Brown, Labour leader of Preston Council and a figurehead for the community wealth building project, is supportive of the reforms and advocates merging areas surrounding his city into a ‘Greater Preston’ area.

In a letter to the government, Brown argued that the current “two-tier arrangements do not work well for urban development, nor ensuring rural areas are linked into the wider benefits of city region growth. By their nature they create separation and conflicting priorities.”

He added: “Preston is the administrative headquarters of the county and Greater Preston would bring [together] an economic area that makes sense – in terms of administration, health, planning and housebuilding.

“So we’re really keen on trying to persuade the government to give us a larger Preston unitary [authority]. It takes us to a population of around 250,000 – and we feel that’s getting to a potential level…the government might accept.” 

Others Lancashire councils are less convinced – including district councils not under Labour control. Cllr Michael Vincent, Conservative leader of Wyre Council, said: “It’s called the devolution bill, but it’s not devolving power to traditional councils – it is taking power away from them.”

More broadly, umbrella group the District Councils’ Network argues there is “little evidence“ from previous reorganisations to suggest savings will be made. Vice-chair Hannah Dalton warned that the “creation of mega councils“ could lead to “the opposite of devolution“.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay is also sceptical, arguing the change plan “steals power away from local people and risks making the real changes required harder to achieve, including building the homes we need, cleaning our rivers, reforming social care and greening our local economies.“

He added: “We should trust local communities to make the right decisions on homes, food, energy, nature and adapting to the climate crisis. Instead, these plans risk moving power away from local councils to huge remote super councils and regional mayors.”

But the County Councils Network is more positive. Chair Tom Oliver said the white paper “provides a clear direction of travel on the future of local government in England. Building on positive progress on devolution to counties in recent years, it sets out a more ambitious framework of devolved powers and funding alongside an unambiguous desire for mayoral strategic authorities and local government reorganisation.”