Reform UK are to back a two-council north/south Derbyshire local government reshuffle, in a step away from their Conservative predecessors and national leader Nigel Farage.
Cllr Alan Graves, Reform’s Derbyshire County Council leader, has confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the new administration would in fact be backing a council reorganisation option.
He confirmed that the authority would not be joining the joint bid being worked up by the county’s district and borough councils and Derby City Council, but would continue to work on its own separate submission.
Cllr Graves confirmed this would be a two-council north/south split, saying: “We are still progressing an option.
“It will be broadly in line with what the districts and city are drawing up, it is something very similar along a north and south divide.
“It is very similar to where they are but we have some different ideas.”
More detail on the authority’s rival bid is set to be published as part of next week’s full council meeting.
This comes after the districts, boroughs and city council launched a joint public consultation into three north/south options:
- A: High Peak, Derbyshire Dales, North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield, Bolsover and Amber Valley in the north (population 584,000) and Derby, Erewash and South Derbyshire in the south (population 494,000)
- B: High Peak, Derbyshire Dales, North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield and Bolsover in the north (population 456,000) and Amber Valley, Derby, Erewash and South Derbyshire in the south (population 622,000)
- C: High Peak, Derbyshire Dales, North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield, Bolsover and half of Amber Valley in the north (population 567,000) and half of Amber Valley, Derby, Erewash and South Derbyshire in the south (population 511,000)
When the Conservative Party was still in control at the county council, it had submitted a separate draft local government reorganisation bid, which kept Derby separate and with its existing boundaries and merged the rest of the boroughs in with the current county set-up.
This bid was dubbed the “doughnut” approach and fielded criticism for being extremely lopsided in terms of scale between the county and city authorities, while the authority said it was the simplest and most efficient option.
Meanwhile, when Reform’s national leader Nigel Farage visited Denby ahead of the May elections to campaign for local Reform candidates – most of which were successful – he said his party would not back any of the proposed Derbyshire local government reorganisation, putting this down to a lack of public support.
He had said: “If you take power away from the district councils and push them up to a higher authority, how is that devolution? It is quite the opposite.
“You are taking away local powers so I am pretty unimpressed.
“Has anyone been consulted?
“I don’t mind changing local government, I have been hearing arguments that it will save money.
“Cornwall was the first to go down this route and it has got the biggest debt of anybody in the country, so the idea that it is all going to save us money… yeah.”
The consultation on the three options pitched by the districts and city will run until August 10. To take part, visit bit.ly/Derbyshire-consultation
A final submission to Government will be made on November 28, with existing councils to be scrapped and replaced with new authorities in 2028.
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