The UK Government has released its plan to radically alter local democracy up and down the country, which will scrap Lancashire’s 15 councils and replace them with entirely new ones.
Everything from top-tier authorities like Lancashire County Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council to lower-tiers like Hyndburn and Burnley are being abolished in the seismic shake-up, known as Local Government Reorganisation.
The existing councils submitted a number of proposals for Lancashire’s future to the government, ranging from a two-council model favoured by county hall to a five-council structure backed by Burnley, with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government, Steve Reed, making the final decision.
And that call came in today, July 16, with the government announcing that Lancashire’s 1.5 million residents should be split between four councils, under a model submitted by Chorley and backed by a number of smaller authorities.
These four new councils will split the county along largely geographical lines into South Lancashire, Fylde Coast, North Lancashire, and Pennine Lancashire, if the naming scheme used in the Chorley proposal is also approved.
Though the exact street-by-street boundaries are yet to be confirmed, East Lancashire residents living under Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale councils can expect to be rolled into the ‘Pennine’ authority.
Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire are being combined into the new South Lancashire Council. While Blackpool, Fylde, and Wyre will become the new Fylde Coast authority, if those names are picked.
The fourth new body, North Lancashire Council, will be made up of urban areas like Lancaster and Preston, with the rurality of Ribble Valley added onto it.
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These new democratic structures have proved divisive, with each council effectively backing whichever model will benefit them most and many politicians in East Lancashire expressing concerns that their residents' concerns will be overshadowed by Blackburn, which is already a unitary authority.
It is not yet clear where the centre of power will be in each of these new authorities, or what will happen to their defunct town halls, which have been at the heart of political life in their boroughs for over a century.
In the case of Hyndburn, its town hall has been in use for more than 160 years.
But residents in East Lancashire can at least now expect a much simpler system of political representation.
Where Accrington or Burnley residents once had to contact Lancashire County Council if they had a pothole issue, but their borough council if they had a problem with their bins, in two years' time, there will only be one authority covering all council services.
Lancastrians will not see their decades-old councils disappear overnight, however, as they will continue to run day-to-day services for the next two years while these new authorities are established.
The first step will be electing politicians to fill them in May, 2027, with these officials operating a ‘shadow’ authority that will prepare for power by adopting a constitution, making appointments to committees, and carrying out the complicated task of absorbing existing staff and services into the new council.
Then on April 1, 2028, known as ‘Vesting Day’, these four new councils will become the new face of Lancashire’s local democracy, responsible for every service from waste collection and disposal to adult social care and schools.
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