Emerging realities of local government reorganization

Abstract

This article reviews ministerial claims about the financial benefits of the nine new unitary councils in England and finds them wanting. The new councils' own estimates for costs and savings use a variety of assumptions, some of which are plainly wrong. The resulting figures are not comparable between authorities and are difficult to reconcile with ministerial claims. The Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG) evidently does not apply rigorous evaluation standards and has a track record of refusing to divulge the evidence upon which decisions are taken and performance claims are made.

Acknowledgements

Lord Wade of Chorlton kindly agreed that his correspondence with Baroness Andrews may be used in this article. I am also grateful to Steve Leach for help in assembling data and for his candid comments on a draft of this article.

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Notes on contributors

Michael Chisholm

Michael Chisholm was a Member of the Local Government Commission for England 1992–05. He retired in 1996 from a Professorship of Geography, University of Cambridge.