West Country councils set for huge reform

The way the West Country is governed is to undergo its biggest change in half a century.

District councils in Gloucestershire will be abolished, and one powerful council will instead run all the county's services.

Regional mayors will also be introduced for all areas, with one possibly taking charge of a new Wessex authority.

It is part of sweeping reforms for England announced by the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner.

The change is greatest in Gloucestershire, as it is one of a dwindling number of counties to still have two tiers of local government.

Some familiar names will go: the district councils of Stroud, Cotswold, Tewkesbury, the Forest of Dean, Cheltenham and Gloucester would merge with the county council.

That is similar to what happened in Somerset in April 2023. It was meant to be simpler for local residents, and save millions of pounds.

However, the Liberal Democrat-run Somerset Council has faced major financial difficulties.

That has given ammunition to sceptics, including the Lib Dem leader of Cotswold District Council, Joe Harris.

"The example in Somerset, where they're having real challenges now with their financial position, just demonstrates that it's not the silver bullet that everybody thinks," he said.

"We're willing to engage with this, but it has to be right."

A change coming to many more places will be the roll-out of metro mayors.

At the moment the region's only one is Dan Norris, who leads the West of England Combined Authority.

He works with the council leaders for Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset.

The new mayors could cover even bigger areas.

Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset councils have joined forces to propose that they share a mayor for what they hope to call Wessex.

Meanwhile there has been disappointment for the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), led by Dan Norris.

Other metro-mayors were alongside the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner as she announced they would get enhanced powers.

But WECA will miss out.

Public rows with council leaders and disagreements with senior staff led to the authority being placed in special measures by the government, so it has been excluded.

Resolving that, and starting to reshape local government across the West Country, will take many more months.

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