Levelling up to replace local authorities with mayors

MAYORS could replace some councils in England under levelling-up plans, a leaked White Paper has revealed.

The draft document states that the Government is setting out a “new devolution framework for England” based on a model of directly elected leaders “over a well-defined economic geography”, in order to achieve a more streamlined approach.

The White Paper on levelling up, which has been seen by The Independent, states: “Levelling up requires coherent local institutions.” It suggests replacing layers of local government in England with a single-tier structure similar to the one used in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

In most of England, 181 district and 24 county councils share responsibility for council services. These would be scrapped in favour of the system used in London and other metropolitan areas where single entities oversee them.

A more streamlined approach is needed, it suggests, adding: “By 2030, we will have a globally competitive city in every region and nation of the UK.”

The White Paper also states that the plans amount to “wholesale changes to information, incentives and institutions” that “underpin decision making in the UK” and that a new Local Growth Funding Roadmap setting out the move towards single-tier local government will be released in 2022 and introduced in 2023.

However, the draft paper confirms that key decisions by the levelling up committee and the Treasury are reportedly yet to be signed off.

The leak comes as a survey by UK Powerhouse of the nation’s 50 biggest regional economies found that a widening North-south divide between Britain’s biggest towns and cities threatens to undermine the Government’s ambition to “level up” the country.

Its research predicts that Oxford, Cambridge and Milton Keynes will add a combined £1.8billion to their economies next year – matching the expected growth of the top five cities in the North: Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, York and Sheffield.