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Councillors to discuss devolution at special meeting

A special meeting of Rutland County Council is to be held in February to discuss the issue of devolution and local government reorganisation.

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The entrance to Rutland County Council's Catmose offices
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The entrance to Rutland County Council's Catmose offices

A special meeting of Rutland County Council is to be held in February to allow Councillors to discuss the issue of devolution and local government reorganisation.

National government published a Devolution White Paper in December and wants all councils that are not already part of a combined authority to join strategic authorities with total populations of 1.5million people.

At the same time, government announced a programme of local government reorganisation to replace all two-tier county and district councils with new unitary councils that have populations of at least 500,000.

Rutland County Council is discussing options with neighbouring authorities but is clear that any reorganisation must be evidence based and reflect the way people live their lives.

A Special Council Meeting has been added to Rutland County Council’s Forward Plan and will take place on Tuesday 11 February. The meeting will be held in the main Council Chamber from 7.00pm and streamed live via our Meetings page.

A report explaining the current position with regards to devolution and local government reorganisation will be published in advance of the meeting, outlining as much as information as possible so that Councillors can discuss the issue in public.

“Devolution has the potential to be beneficial for our communities but only if done in the right way. This is why we want to engage positively with the government and our near neighbours. Together, we are among the councils who need to explore reorganisation before we can consider progressing onto devolution – this remains the focus of our discussions. To move forward with local government reorganisation, further work is needed to develop firm proposals that explore all options. We need to consider evidence around the critically important relationship between scale and physical geography. As I have said previously, Councils perform best when their boundaries reflect the way people live their lives.

“We must have a confirmed position on reorganisation before we can agree to devolution and we must explore all options in a way that is led by evidence. The Government has indicated that interim proposals for reorganisation need to be submitted by March – although we’re still waiting for confirmation of the precise date. It is important that Councillors who represent our communities here in Rutland are able to publicly debate and discuss what’s being asked of us, which is why a special council meeting is being convened.”

Councillor Gale Waller, Leader of Rutland County Council

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