The Government has nailed its colours very firmly to two masts: Growth and Devolution. It is consulting, but with very short timescales and a clear message that, unless local authorities can agree new arrangements among themselves, the Deputy PM will impose a solution.

Much of the devolution push is about big cities and conurbations, particularly in the North and North-East, getting more powers in the area of planning and economic development, and elected Mayors, to grow the economy.

However, the non-metropolitan “two-tier system established in the 1972-74 reorganisation of counties and districts, with different (but sometimes overlapping) powers and responsibilities- waste collection with districts, waste disposal with counties- is coming to an end. New Unitary Councils, with the full of powers and services of the previous county and district councils, will be created by combining a number of existing districts. The major benefit should be better integration of services.

The Society is strongly in favour of the proposal, as far as it goes.

The new unitaries need to be large enough to benefit from the potential economies of scale and able to provide a fully comprehensive service in key areas like education and social services, yet smaller and more local than the existing counties. The expectation is that they will have populations around 500,000.

A number of alternative models for the reorganisation in Kent are in play. The Society favours 4 unitaries in addition to the existing Medway Unitary Council. It also favours the model of an East Kent Unitary based on combining the four districts of Thanet, Canterbury, Dover and Folkestone & Hythe. These share some key geographical, economic and social characteristics: coastal, maritime, tourism, with pockets of economic and social deprivation. Their combined population according to the 2021 census was 524,000. As compared to many proposed new unitaries around the country East Kent would have a high degree of coherence and identity.

It will, however, be essential to balance this shift to larger unitaries, which  may feel remote to the public, with a new emphasis on the existing “tier” of parish and town councils which provide a range of services and strong local identity. We have an excellent and active Ramsgate Town Council, with which the Society enjoys  a close working relationship. There is a huge opportunity for RTC to expand its presence and local services and help bridge the political representation gap created by the abolition of the district tier.

Michael Ashley, Secretary.