Shropshire (Structural Change) Order 2008

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Shropshire (Structural Change) Order 2008. The noble Baroness said: We now come—reluctantly, I feel—to the final order, which is very much the same set of propositions. The order establishes the new unitary Shropshire Council. It implements a proposal which Shropshire County Council submitted to us in response to our invitation to councils issued in October 2006 in parallel with our White Paper. We have judged its proposal against the same five criteria set out in our invitations to councils, against which, as we have already discussed, we assessed all 26 of the proposals that we originally received. As I informed the House on 5 December, our judgment is that if the proposal for the single unitary Shropshire Council were to be implemented, there is a reasonable likelihood that it would achieve the outcomes specified by all five criteria in the invitation; that is, we believe that the proposal will achieve the outcomes on strategic leadership, neighbourhood flexibility and empowerment, and delivery of value for money and efficiency in public services specified in the criteria. Equally, we believe that the change, if implemented, will be affordable and supported by a broad cross-section of partners and stakeholders. On the basis of the proposal, and having regard to all the information and representations that we received, including the advice of our independent financial experts, it is expected that the change in Shropshire will lead to savings of more than £9 million and therefore meets the affordability criteria. It also meets the support criteria. Consultation last spring revealed that opinion was divided about the unitary proposal. Significantly, the proposal was originally supported by two district councils, Oswestry and South Shropshire. South Shropshire withdrew its support following the May 2007 local elections; Oswestry is still in support. However, there was strong opposition from some other districts. Three of the districts commissioned local polls, by post, which showed that the majority of those who responded opposed the proposal. A critique of the postal polls in Shropshire was made by Professor Rawlings and Thrasher, noting that the tone and content of the information provided was likely to have had some impact on the poll results, that there could be no guarantee that they were true one- person, one-vote polls, and that the relatively low turnout meant that only a small minority of the electorate supported either position. But overall, in spite of the district poll results suggesting that the majority of the public opposed the unitary, the county council’s own telephone survey of 1,000 residents in June 2007 showed that 78 per cent wanted more information about it before making their mind up about a single council. In addition, the majority of the public who wrote in during the consultation also supported the unitary proposal, as did some town and parish councils. In addition, the majority of representations from the public stakeholders, such as the Shropshire county primary care trust, the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS trust and the Shropshire and Wrekin Fire Authority, expressed support for the proposals, along with almost all voluntary and community sector organisations, some town and parish councils and the Shropshire enterprise partnership, representing part of the business community. Overall, we concluded that there was a reasonable likelihood of the proposal achieving the outcomes specified by this criterion. In common with all the orders being discussed today, we have prepared this order following consultation and full discussion with the councils concerned. As with the others, this order provides that from 1 April 2009 there will be a single tier of local government for Shropshire, and that the existing district councils will be dissolved, and the county council transformed into a new unitary council, having both district and county functions. It makes provisions for the key transitional arrangements and provides for the establishment of an implementation executive, to be lead by the county council, whose membership will be drawn from the county and all the district councils. We discussed the membership of the implementation executive in detail with all the affected councils, and reached a consensus on that which is reflected in the order. It also provides that the county council will have the function of preparing for and facilitating the economic, effective, efficient and timely transfer of the district councils’ functions, property, rights and liabilities to the new council, and requires that these transitional functions be discharged by the implementation executive until April 2009. It provides for the creation of a team of officers in each area, again drawn from the county and all the district councils to provide the necessary support to the implementation executive. Where this order differs from those for Northumberland and Durham is that in Shropshire, as in Cornwall and Wiltshire, elections to the new unitary Shropshire Council will take place in line with the usual county cycle in May 2009. That was on the basis of a consensus that has been reached. Again, that will enable the Electoral Commission to undertake an appropriate electoral review and put in place appropriate electoral arrangements before the first elections. In common with the order for Cornwall, this order also provides for the cancellation of district council elections that would otherwise have taken place in May 2008. In Shropshire, that applies to Shrewsbury and Atcham alone, where one-third of its members would normally have become due for re-election. The proposal that has now been further developed by all councils in Shropshire envisages the council having a convening role, developing a cross-sector vision for the county. The leader will sit on the regional assembly, chair the public service board and be vice-chair of the local strategic partnership. The public service board would be set up with representatives from key stakeholders. Thematic partnerships will represent the four blocks of the local area agreement. Area partnerships will meet quarterly, have a budget of up to £500,000 for each area and will co-ordinate the work of local area agreements and the development of the sustainable community strategy. The new council will very much bed its arrangements into local area agreements, as it should. That will be supported by local joint committees, made up of the various partners, including town and parish councillors with delegated budgets, which is being piloted already in five areas. I do not want to repeat anything I have said about the postponing of elections and the JCSI. I hope we have had a good debate on that. In short, the order will establish a new unitary Shropshire Council that will have the form of local governance that local people should expect and demand. In common with the others we have debated today, it will empower local communities and promote prosperity so that Shropshire will be one of the flagship councils for the future for the rest of the county. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Shropshire (Structural Change) Order 2008. 8th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, 7th Report from the Merits Committee.—(Baroness Andrews.)