Crossing the line...the battle of Britain's boundaries

Intended to empower councils with greater decision making, Angela Rayner's 'devolution revolution' has created discord in communities and reignited a public debate about the value of historic counties, with fears that Rutland faces abolition again

- Karen Rockett

AS anyone who hails from a place that has had its boundaries redrawn will know, there is awkwardness and even sadness of having to relearn where you are from. After all, as the old adage goes, an Englishman's home is his castle... and he most certainly likes to know where he resides.

Yet while some are still mourning county changes of half a century ago, thanks to the Labour Party many more of these emotionally charged disputes lie on the horizon. And that's because Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is the latest in a long line of politicians intent on redrawing the map of this green and pleasant land.

The Housing Secretary wants every region of England to get a mayor and to give them more powers over housing, transport, education and employment to help drive economic growth. She also wants to merge areas where there are currently two tiers of local authority - smaller district and larger county councils to streamline services and, of course, cut costs.

But the body representing district councils has warned the plans could spark "turmoil" and argues "mega-councils" undermine local decision-making.

Indeed, Rayner's plan has already thrown several local authorities into disarray, with some making clear they do not wish to be "merged", while other bodies are annoyed that they have not been added to Rayner's fast-track devolution stream, announced earlier this month.

Take Lancashire where 15 councils have been told to reorganise themselves into three or four local authorities to better serve their populations by March.

The plans have been met with dismay by Ribble Valley Council leader Stephen Atkinson who says it will "result in money flowing from the rural areas into the cities and places like Ribble Valley [being] the cash cows".

In Gloucestershire, there is unease too after the county was denied approval to delay its May 2025 local elections by one year.