District and borough council leaders unite to condemn 'super-council' proposal for Hertfordshire

The leader of East Herts Council has joined with other district chiefs to defy a move to create a single unitary authority responsible for all of Hertfordshire's 1.2 million residents.

Cllr Linda Haysey and her colleagues believe such a 'super-council' would be three times too big and too remote to support communities.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the 10 district and borough councils in Hertfordshire said: "District councils have provided a lifeline to residents and communities during the Covid-19 pandemic, providing food and welfare support to those in great difficulty, paying over £149m in grants to local businesses across the county to help their prospects of survival, housing over 1,000 homeless people... and providing vital services from waste collection to the management of many thousands of council homes.

"Local knowledge and local services have been vital in supporting residents, from those suffering the effects of domestic abuse through to looking after parks and green spaces for people to enjoy."

The leaders say the timing of the county council's proposals is "poor given the need to ensure there is an absolute focus on supporting their communities and businesses to recover from the devastating effects of Covid-19".

That was echoed by Cllr Haysey, who added: "East Herts Council has worked hard in the last few months to continue delivering services to residents during the Covid-19 pandemic. Continuing to do so and working towards the 'new normal' is our overwhelming priority right now and speculation around local government reorganisation is deflecting staff and councillor attention away from this key focus.

"However, I will work with other authorities in the county to ensure that any changes are for the good of our residents."

Cllr Haysey and the other district and borough leaders argue that they have "demonstrated great innovation" to save more than £95m over the last 10 years to protect services for residents and say they are already collaborating with the county council through the Hertfordshire Growth Board and believe that they can continue to make progress as a group of 11 authorities representing the distinct communities of Herts.

The leaders have pledged to co-operate to develop alternative options for consideration by the Government.

"This will be done with the aim of ensuring that any future model for local government in Hertfordshire is both effective and efficient whilst also providing proper representation for residents," they said. "It is not helpful to speculate at this stage about what that might look like as it requires a great deal of work to be done to identify the right solution."

A spokesman for Hertfordshire County Council said: "Hertfordshire County Council values the importance of strong working relationships and collaboration across the whole public sector in Hertfordshire.

"The environment in which all councils will find themselves as we recover from the pandemic requires us to explore how we best organise ourselves. We must continue to best serve the needs of our residents in the future and provide the most effective support for the county’s economic recovery.

"We are just at the start of those considerations and look forward to working with all councils in Hertfordshire to determine our best way forward."