super councils

I still think all this urban centric stuff will end in tears……

Simon Henig is in an unexpected position. Just a year ago he was leading Durham council through a period of unprecedented cutbacks that devastated communities and decimated public services across the north-east.

Then, suddenly – and after years of apparently overlooking the plight of the region – the coalition government began talking about creating a “northern powerhouse”. Manchester’s combined local authority of 10 councils was praised for its achievements and authorities across the country were encouraged to follow suit and set up their own “super-councils” to make regional decisions about everything from transport to economic growth

Devolution is a complete dog’s breakfast of different geographical [council] areas happening at different times

In the north-east, progress was initially slow, with civic battles between Sunderland and Newcastle holding up the process of joining together seven authorities: County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland. The answer was to find someone to lead the initiative who was unencumbered by those historic rivalries. That person is Henig, who now finds himself at the forefront of the “haphazard” national combined authorities project.

“It’s a complete dog’s breakfast of different geographical [council] areas happening at different times. I’m a big fan of devolution, but it should apply to everybody, not be based on where government ministers think there should be devolution. It’s clear that some areas are as far away as ever from devolution, while others race ahead. That’s no answer to the devolution issue – the issue that England is the most centralised country of any western democracy.”