From drawing lines on maps to making good things happen: a pragmatic approach to devolution and reorganisation 

Perceptions of time in politics can be deceptive, and observers of English devolution and local government reorganisation could be forgiven for feeling a little disoriented over the last few months, writes Majeed Neky, Assistant Director, Economy at West London Alliance. But long-term success will come from councils’ pragmatic willingness to build alliances with one another.

On the one hand, events are unfolding very quickly: December’s English Devolution White Paper, January’s cut-off for requests to delay council elections, February’s announcement of ‘priority programme’ authorities, and March’s deadline for initial proposals. For Whitehall, this is certainly a demonstration of ‘delivering at pace’.

On the other hand, the benefits of all this activity will not be seen for some years. That is not a criticism; this Government’s willingness to think long-term is a good thing. But councils should be prepared for this initial sprint to slow down while Ministers deliberate, legislation is drafted and capacity bottlenecks are encountered in obscure places (like the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel).

A more systematic approach to devolving power and building effective institutions is the right direction of travel, and civil servants will help to deliver it with pride. Speaking from experience, their task is not easy – particularly having lost the late, great Paul Rowsell, who spearheaded previous, complex secondary legislation to enact devolution deals and council reorganisations. But looking in from the outside, the hoops and deadlines do seem to underscore the fact that devolution remains on the Government’s terms, vulnerable to its whims.

We know from experience, though, that local government will flow around centrally-driven frameworks like a river around rocks. The recent Government decision to end funding for pan-regional partnerships such as the Midlands Engine provides a small but typical example. Days after the decision was confirmed, the Mayors of the East and West Midlands agreed a compact which will see them continue much of the Engine’s previous joint work. As Mayoral Chief of Staff Claire Spencer notes, the authorities are already demonstrating ‘the respect and reciprocity that will serve both our regions so well’.

London’s sub-regional partnerships similarly illustrate local government’s pragmatism. These groupings of local authorities have evolved in different ways over several years, but all driven by the Goldilocks factor: sometimes, London is too big, and individual London boroughs too small, to realise certain objectives. West London Alliance (WLA) is the oldest such partnership, established in 1997. No permission was sought, or required, to establish WLA as a voluntary partnership of councils. We are not a statutory thread in London’s constitutional tapestry – although the Government’s promised review of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 might just provide an opportunity to explore this. Yet WLA, and its counterparts elsewhere in the capital, are now established in London’s public sector landscape, backed by a mandate from our boroughs and a track record of adding value.

For example, WLA is delivering a joint statutory Waste Plan across multiple boroughs, saving money and time and aligning with collaborative waste management arrangements. We have streamlined the process for our councils to accommodate commercial mobile network infrastructure, improving coverage and increasing efficiency. Uniquely among London’s subregional partnerships, we use our expertise to drive up standards and value for money in social care and housing, working with councils from further afield. We are flexible enough that individual councils can opt in or out of particular workstreams, but coherent enough to advocate for West London with one voice.

London is not (yet) dealing with reorganisation as a live issue. But these examples emphasise how the discourse around ‘minimum population sizes’ and ‘mega-councils’ shines the spotlight on the form of local government, while questions about its function remain more shadowy. In an ideal world, we would first determine what we want from local government, then design the organisational structures to suit. But policymaking in the UK is rarely this straightforward. Instead, the success of devolution and reorganisation will rest most heavily on local pragmatism, and whether councils can use the national impetus for change to deliver for communities and local economies.

The leader of Surrey County Council, Tim Oliver, puts this well in a recent article for LGC, arguing that “We should not be distracted by arguments about the size of a unitary council determining how ‘local’ local government can be”. Instead, he makes the link between form and function, positing that local authorities that are “properly strategic” and “working as part of a coterminous and coordinated system of partners… alongside our police and community safety agencies, our health system… town and parish councils, and local community networks” can have more local impact than fragmented, insolvent smaller units.

An easily-missed but potentially transformative aspect of the English Devolution White Paper was a longer-term ‘ambition to align public service boundaries’. Pragmatic local authorities are not waiting for this ambition to materialise, but rather stitching these institutions together on the ground. WLA’s geography does not match that of our local Integrated Care System (ICS) but over years we have built the relationships and governance to deliver employment support across the ICS geography. We will go further through the Get Britain Working Trailblazers, proposing to deliver across two neighbouring ICS areas – pioneering new approaches to helping people secure and retain work, and getting resources to the front line without parochialism or prevarication. WLA has forged similar partnerships around energy planning and skills, where functional geographies are again not straightforward. We could do more with properly devolved powers and funding, and we are not shy to say so; meanwhile, though, we won’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Achieving formal structural change in local government will be arduous and complex. But it is not an end in itself; it is a means for making good things happen for people and places. It is this pragmatic spirit which should guide local and national decision-makers in their next steps.

Majeed Neky is Assistant Director, Economy at West London Alliance, working across the seven West London boroughs to drive forward the sub-region’s economic vision and deliver joint priorities across skills, digital, net zero and infrastructure. Previously, Majeed worked on a range of cross-cutting priorities and place-based policy initiatives within the Civil Service, including in the Levelling Up Taskforce, Department for International Trade, Infrastructure and Projects Authority and Cities and Local Growth Unit.