We were being shown around a new dental school when the news arrived.
The government was pausing, reviewing, reimagining, or perhaps simply rethinking its flagship programme of local government reorganisation. Even now, nobody seems entirely sure which applies. The announcement landed as welcome as a root canal.
I was with several fellow council leaders at the time, and we were all blindsided. Across our region, councils have spent years (and millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money) preparing for the biggest restructuring of local government in a generation. Whatever our personal views on the destination, we had embarked on this journey in good faith and committed ourselves to making it work.
What makes this difficult is not simply the decision itself, but the way it happened. For two years local authorities were told that devolution – firmly coupled to unitarisation of councils – was the future. We were told that if we wanted meaningful powers and greater control over our own destiny, we needed to embrace local government reorganisation.
Some councils did so enthusiastically. Others did so reluctantly. Historic disagreements were set aside. New alliances were formed. Proposals were developed that often-required significant political courage.
Thousands of hours of officer time were devoted to the process. Strategic plans were rewritten. Budgets were prepared around new assumptions. Councils facing immense financial pressure diverted scarce resources into responding to a Government agenda that appeared settled.
Then came the sudden announcement that it was not settled after all.
Perhaps most frustrating is the absence of clarity about what follows. When council leaders this week met Jim McMahon, the minister for local government, devolution and regional growth, we were told: “We can’t say what we don’t know.”
That may be true. But it is not a reassuring message to hear about a programme at the heart of the government’s local government agenda.
The unanswered questions are significant. How does any revised timetable align with reviews of adult social care, health services and policing? Can some areas progress more quickly than others? What happens to partnerships already being developed? Most importantly, who is making decisions about the future shape of local government, and on what timescale?
This uncertainty comes at a particularly difficult moment. Councils are still grappling with austerity, rising demand for services and pressure on public finances, with some facing bankruptcy due to chronic underfunding. Alongside that, we lead the on-the-ground response to some of the defining challenges of our age: delivering homes, helping rough sleepers, tackling the cost of living crisis and adapting to and mitigating climate change. Those challenges require stable institutions, clear leadership and long-term planning. Constant uncertainty makes all three harder.
The concern among many local leaders is that power increasingly appears to be flowing upwards rather than outwards. Devolution should be about bringing decisions closer to communities. Yet the focus has shifted towards mayoral structures while councils become an afterthought. Local government reorganisation may sound technical, but it has real consequences for housing, economic prosperity, public services and local accountability.
Councils cannot and will not simply walk away. The prize of meaningful devolution remains significant. The opportunity to make decisions locally rather than having them imposed from Whitehall remains worth fighting for.
For Norwich, we entered this process with a clear objective: securing the best future for our residents and communities. The Greater Norwich model we developed sought to strengthen local accountability and create a structure rooted in place. Ever-larger authorities spread across the whole of Norfolk would not achieve this.
What local government cannot continue doing is operating in a perpetual state of reorganisation. Residents rightly expect us to focus on housing, tackling inequality, public services and climate resilience, not endlessly revisiting structures and boundaries.
If ministers still believe in local government reorganisation, they now need to provide clarity. Tell us the plan. Tell us the timetable. Tell us how local government, health and policing fit together. Most importantly, be honest about what has gone wrong and what comes next. Devolution remains a prize worth pursuing. But partnership is a two-way street. Councils have spent years doing what government asked of them. It is now time for government to show the same commitment in return. Our communities deserve nothing less.
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