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A Ribble Valley councillor says the needs of rural areas risk being overlooked if the number of local authorities in Lancashire is slashed.
Ged Mirfin, a Lancashire county councillor for Ribble Valley North East, has set up a petition calling for a referendum before any such changes are implemented.
It comes after a group of Labour MPs called on the government to create three or four new councils to replace the 15 that currently exist across the county, as part of a push for a more extensive devolution deal and the introduction of an elected mayor. They say the move would “empower our county [and] reinvent local politics”.
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If the idea were to get the go-ahead, Lancashire’s 12 district authorities – including Ribble Valley Borough Council – would disappear, along with Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool and Lancashire County councils.
However, County Cllr Mirfin claims the newly-created authorities – which would cover much larger areas than the districts they supplant – would leave less populated parts of Lancashire badly represented and under-resourced.
“Quite a large proportion of the county consists of rural areas, villages and small towns, which, because of their smaller population, have fewer councillors,” the Conservative politician says in the preamble to his petition.
“There is a very real danger that some councils and councillors will fail to recognise the needs of those of us resident in the more sparsely populated areas of the county.
“Pots of cash from central government would be swallowed up providing essential services like social care and schools – anything else would be added to a long list of ‘nice to haves’.”
County Cllr Mirfin says a referendum on any changes to Lancashire’s local government structure should be held not just in Ribble Valley, but in all local council areas across the patch in order to acquire the “consent of the electorate”.
His call echoes one previously made by Ribble Valley Borough Council’s Tory leader Stephen Atkinson and repeated last week by the leader of Wyre Council, Michael Vincent.
Pendle and Clitheroe MP Jonathan Hinder is amongst a minority of Lancashire Labour MPs not to have signed the letter sent to the government pressing for a new council set-up.
He told BBC Radio Lancashire this week that while he believes both the current two-tier arrangement and the devolution deal negotiated with the previous Conservative administration – and now being implemented by Labour – are “unsatisfactory”, it was important “to take people with us”.
“That’s what I’m keen to do over the coming months,” he added.
A government spokesperson said in response to the MPs’ letter when approached by the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “As part of the biggest transfer of power from Westminster, we want to better support councils that want to move to simpler structures that make sense for their areas and where that better meets the needs of local people.
“We are working with local leaders across England to deliver the most ambitious programme of devolution this country has ever seen, and will set out further details in the upcoming English Devolution White Paper.”
That document is expected to be published in December.
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