By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
A Gloucestershire council is calling for the option of joining a Three Counties or Mercia combined authority to be kept on the table during discussions on devolution.
Local government is being reorganised across England and new powers look set to be devolved to councils who form strategic authorities in the coming years.
Five district authorities in Gloucestershire along with the County Council have expressed a preference of joining with the Bristol-centric West of England Combined Authority.
However, it is understood if this ever goes ahead it will take several years as North Somerset will join it first.
It has also been suggested that the Mayor of the West of England is against the idea of Gloucestershire joining the combined authority.
Meanwhile, Tewkesbury Borough Council has called for the county’s authorities to also engage with councils north of Gloucestershire in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Warwickshire.
Borough Council leader Richard Stanley (LD, Cleeve West) presented the report on devolution at the meeting on April 7.
He told councillors he saw merits in both proposals and wanted to give the council the opportunity to debate the proposals.
“That’s why I didn’t sign the letter the other day with the other councils because we hadn’t actually taken it through our council yet,” he said.
“And I didn’t want to set out the position of our council until we’ve discussed or debated it as a council.”
He said the debate was for councillors to express their views as to the best approach for Tewkesbury Borough Council.
Many councillors expressed a strong preference for joining with the councils to the north of Gloucestershire which share similar characteristics and historic ties.
During the debate, Deputy Leader Sarah Hands (LD, Innsworth) said it was important to keep options open.
“No matter how this goes, why on earth are everyone else just saying we are going there and that’s it,” she said.
“It makes absolutely no sense to do that in terms of anything. We can speak to other authorities.
“It doesn’t mean we are suddenly going to ignore the cool kids and go with the other kids.
“Let’s just make sure we are on the table everywhere because we want Gloucestershire to actually have a voice.”
Councillor David Gray (C, Winchcombe) said he feared the nature of Gloucestershire would be at threat if it were to join the West of England Combined Authority.
He also said the county had more in common to the places to the north of Gloucestershire than Bristol.
“Bristol has half a million people,” he said. “It’s on a different scale.
“We would be in with this wen, pulling things into. I fear for the nature of Gloucestershire in terms of the character of the county and what that would do to us.”
He said he felt parts of the county would “be sucked into servicing parts of Bristol”.
“I look at the wisdom of elders, the Three Choirs, the Three Shires, that to me seems like an attractive option.”
And fellow Conservative Councillor Paul McLain (Highnam with Haw Bridge) proposed a successful amendment no to support the position set out in the Gloucestershire joint response but instetad to engage with the councils to the north of Gloucestershire as well as WECA.
“We are a tadpole surrounded by very large toads, and that is no criticism of the rest of Avon,” he said.
“But the odds would be further stacked against Gloucestershire when the old Avon is reconstituted.”
Reform UK Councillor Graham Bocking (Northway) said it was important for them to keep “options open”.
“It’s a decision we are not actually making,” he said. “It’s going to be made by central government.
“We need to talk to everybody to make sure we are in the best position.”
Independent Councillor Mike Sztymiak (Tewkesbury North and Twyning) said he had strong views about the reason to go with Herefordshire and Worcestershire and potentially Warwickshire.
“Culturally, we have a greater identity with those people,” he said. “We have a greater heritage with those areas and that is where I believe we belong.
“At the end of the day, it’s not just the economics, it’s hearts and minds.
“If we can gell people together around this concept of who we are, I think it lies in those Three Counties, Three Shires and Three Choirs and whatever has gone on in the past.
“Whether we call ourselves Mercia, or whatever, it may be an ancient name but I do think it’s probably in the psyche of the public around us that there is still that concept there.”
All councillors voted in favour of the proposal apart from one who voted against and another who abstained.
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