Major consultation of English local authorities
Responses to consultation
In November 2010, the LGBCE launched a major consultation of English local government. Responses to the consultation are now available. Click to see what councils, local bodies and individuals said about our proposed policies and procedures for electoral reviews and PABR's
All the submissions are contained in the below PDF documents. At the front of each document there is a list of names with internal links to the relevant submissions.
Principal council response (A-C) (PDF)
Principal council response (D-N) (PDF)
Principal council response (O-S) (PDF)
Principal council response (T-W) (PDF)
Responses from bodies and individuals other than the above principal councils.
Non-principal council response A-N (PDF)
Non-principal council response S-W (PDF)
The Commission's two consultation papers set out proposals for how the Commission could work with councils on major issues such as council mergers, council size and boundary anomalies that can hinder the delivery of effective services.
The local government community was asked to comment on the LGBCE's proposals and consider how they could benefit from being part of the Commission’s programme.
The two consultation papers were:
On the right lines? A consultation on policy and procedures for Principal Area Boundary Reviews (PABRs (PDF)) – which sets out new procedures for local authority boundary changes from correcting minor anomalies to whole council mergers.The consultation proposes new procedures which are proportionate to the scale of boundary changes proposed.The paper also covers the LGBCE’s approach to council mergers and how the Commission expects proposals to be locally driven and based on sound business cases.
Striking the right balance. A consultation on policy and procedures for electoral reviews (PDF) – which proposes to introduce a fast track approach to some reviews as well as telling councils what they can expect from the Commission if they wish to change the number of councillors.
Max Caller, Chair of the LGBCE, said, “Thank you to all those local authorities, parish councils and other organisations who took the time to respond to the consultation. We'll consider all submissions carefully as we formulate new technical guidance for reviews so that we can ensure our review processes are fair, efficient and proportionate.
"The Commission has unique powers to help councils deliver effective local government. The response to this major consultation will help us use those powers to help councils face the challenges ahead."