Limited window to address two-tier structure
Author: Local Government Chronicle |
Councils in county areas have a ?limited window of opportunity? to prove to a Conservative government they can make the two-tier structure work, a prominent Tory leader has claimed.
David Shakespeare, leader of Buckinghamshire CC and the Local Government Association’s Conservative group, claimed his party’s guarantee that they would not allow another messy round of reorganisation only applied to their first term in office.
Cllr Shakespeare, who holds regular meetings with shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman and other front-bench colleagues, said counties and districts had five to six years to demonstrate they could wring substantial savings from two-tier working.
?As long as [counties and districts] take advantage of that opportunity, local government reorganisation should stay off the agenda,? he said.
The front bench of the next government will be very serious about encouraging two-tier areas to work better together
?If it is not taken then I am quite sure people might want to start looking at it again. The front bench of the next government will be very serious about encouraging two-tier areas to work better together.?