Fewer councillors in shake-up

There could be more than 250 fewer councillors in Lincolnshire after a radical overhaul of local government, according to a leading figure.
Coun Nick Worth, leader of South Holland District Council, said any plans to restructure our councils must ensure there is “complete change” in how they are run – and that is likely to mean a big cut in the number of representatives.
The government has asked all district councils to put forward proposals to create larger unitary authorities, marking the biggest shakeup of local politics in a generation.
Coun Worth spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service about his proposal for two larger unitary authorities and his thoughts on the other plans which have been put forward.
In July, Coun Worth and Coun Craig Leyland (Conservative), leader of East Lindsey District Council, put forward a plan to split up the north and south of the county.
East Lindsey and South Holland have already merged back office services with Boston in a partnership arrangement in recent years.
Under their plan, the Northern Lincolnshire Council would cover Lincoln, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and West Lindsey.
A Southern Lincolnshire Council would cover Boston, East Lindsey, South Holland, North Kesteven and South Kesteven.
Coun Worth said the planned shake-up gives councils an opportunity to do things differently.
He criticised Lincolnshire County Council’s proposal to merge all seven district councils together.
Coun Worth said: “The whole point of reorganisation is that you can have complete change in local government. It’s got to improve services.
“My view is that the county council’s proposal is very distant.
“But also, if you went with that, what changes? You’ve just got more of the same. I think we’re confident that our proposal will deliver the best service outcomes for residents and will also be the most efficient.
“I think our module will also deliver the greatest level of savings and probably the fastest level of payback.”
Coun Worth said he believed his proposal would deliver more efficient and reliable services.
He said: “Obviously, we’ve got the expertise of the South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership that’s been going for several years now.
“It set itself a target of £42 million of savings over ten years. It’s already produced £38 million of the savings in just four years.
“So I think that just shows what you can do when you join together and have bigger councils. There are bigger opportunities with unitaries.”
Coun Worth also said he didn’t think the plans put forward by South Kesteven District Council for a southern Lincolnshire council, which could also involve Rutland, meet the government’s criteria.
He said: “I don’t think the South Kesteven District Council proposal is financially sustainable. “But if you look at the government’s criteria, they all came out with a 500,000 population figure because it’s financially sustainable.
Councils have until November 28 to submit proposals to the government.