Council Abolition Criticised

The Conservative leader of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, Matt Boughton, has said Labour's planned reorganisation of local government is "deeply regrettable".

In an interview with West Kent Radio, Matt Boughton said: “I think it is a shame to be honest. I think our current local government structures work quite well.”

This follows the news that Kent County Council Leader, Roger Gough and Medway Council Leader Vince Maple co-signed a letter to the government on Monday calling for this May's county elections to be postponed while new larger councils are set up.

Mr Gough and Mr Maple said: “getting reorganisation right in Kent is the greatest priority”, citing “restructuring 14 councils concurrently” and “our location at the Gateway to Europe” as inherent challenges.

The government’s white paper on English Devolution states that new councils will be created with a population of 500,000 or more with the aim of achieving efficiencies and withstanding financial shocks.

Cllr Boughton told West Kent Radio: “I think the issue that needs to be improved is on who does what between Kent County Council and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council. But that doesn't mean that we should just destroy the system of local government that we've got.”

“However, the government have got a big majority. They are absolutely determined to do this, and they've been very clear about that.”

“We have to be pragmatic whether we like it or not. The irritating aspect is this was never mentioned before the election. This wasn't in their Manifesto.”

Labour’s 2024 ‘Change’ Manifesto did include “integrated settlements for Mayoral Combined Authorities” and a commitment to “widen devolution to more areas, encouraging local authorities to come together and take on new powers.”

Cllr Boughton said: “I think we've got to separate local government reorganisation from Devolution. Devolution I'm all in support of and I do agree with Roger Gough that that can bring a lot of benefits to the county. I just don't think you need to change the structures of local governments to do that.”

“Tonbridge and Malling, at the moment, serves 135,000 people. That's across quite a large area from Hildenborough in the south-west to Walderslade in the north-east. The new requirements of the government would be that new authorities cover half a million people.”

Currently, the ‘upper tier’ Kent County Council is responsible for providing social care, education and transport services while ‘lower tier’ borough and district councils provide local planning and refuse collection.

“The new authority will be even more remote so it’s very challenging for anyone who believes in local governance as a way to get stuff done to argue that this will actually improve the quality of life that we see in our communities.”

“I’m just worried that this top-down imposition of local government doesn’t reflect what’s best for individuals and communities.”

He sympathised with Conservative Cranbrook Councillor Sean Holden (pictured below) who branded these new authorities “elective dictatorships”.

Mr Boughton said: “What’s good for cities isn’t necessarily good for rural areas.”

“For me the challenge comes down to how you do it. I think we would have been able and capable of being very collaborative with colleagues from elsewhere in the county about bringing forward proposals that enable us to deliver on the benefits of devolution as the government see it.”

“We've been forced to operate within this system that the government have imposed on us and that's deeply regrettable.”

Matt Boughton became chair of the Kent Leaders Devolution Working Group last month.

He told West Kent Radio: “The Devolution Sub-Group is working through these proposals in detail, everyone’s got an interest in them. We do need to think very very closely about how we do this, and the situation given to us is very challenging.”

“We need a group of people who are going to come together. Who are going to work through the details. That’s what the devolution subgroup is going to do. And we try as best as we possibly can to reflect all views that come to us.”

It is likely that Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone will merge together to form a Strategic Authority to meet the government’s minimum target 500,000 population.

As the county’s largest town and historic County Town, many suspect that Maidstone would retain an administrative centre covering West Kent.

Cllr Boughton dismissed these rumours. He said: “We haven't had any conversations about where the headquarters would be. I think that would come well down the tracks. and that's because we haven't even agreed amongst ourselves as to where the boundaries might be.”

“This will be subject to public consultation anyway.”

Strategic Authorities are set to be Unitary similar to Medway’s current structure. They will replace both Kent County Council and the District and Borough Councils across Kent leaving Parish and Town Councils untouched.

Cllr Boughton said: “I don’t think that you can feel connected to an authority unless you feel that that authority cares about your place.”

“What’s fascinating to me as part of this debate is, actually, this 500,000 figure that the governments are using. Because how can it be that authorities that are four or five times bigger than they are at the moment are going to feel more connected to their place.

"That to me is the big question that I’d like to ask government and I have asked government but haven’t really got a clear answer.”

Asked whether he has ambitions to become Kent's mayor, Cllr Boughton replied: “It won’t be me.”