Rob Hayward: Cut London boroughs and councillors

By Paul Goodman

Rob Hayward, the former MP for Kingswood, is a long-time adviser to the Party on boundary reviews and electoral matters, and knows more about both than most of us.  However, his Evening Standard piece this evening is unlikely to have boosted his popularity with some London Conservative Councillors.

In it, he argues that there are too many London Boroughs and London Councillors.  He writes that:

"Several London boroughs, including Richmond and Kingston, are smaller than either Southend or  Stockton. Five are even smaller than Basildon District".

"Why not merge these London Lilliputs and do away with their myriad chief executives, directors and the rest? If the mighty authorities of the West Midlands were our model, there would be 16 or 17 London boroughs, not 32."

"In any case, there is no logic or fairness about it. Why does Kensington & Chelsea need 54 councillors for 87,000 voters (that's one per 1,600 voters) when Bromley gets by with 60 for 227,000 (one per 3,800)?  But let's go further."

"Go on, have the courage of the moment. Goodbye Islington, Richmond and Kensington & Chelsea: the savings would come to millions."

The piece is headlined "Slim down London's costly toytown Councils", and can be read here.

Welcome to ConservativeHome's local government blog

Welcome to ConservativeHome's new local government pages.  These pages - like our recently added Parliament page - are all part of our aspiration to provide comprehensive coverage of the Conservative Party.  There's so much in Conservative local government to celebrate and debate.  We hope that we'll discuss localism, the central-local government relationship, the everyday business of local government and campaigning on these pages.  All councillors are welcome to send in contributions.

I'm delighted that Eric Pickles MP has written an article for our launch day.  We also have a piece from Emma Webster on how she started as a councillor and a piece from Cllr Harry Phibbs on adoption.  It was over a pizza with Harry that the idea of this website was born.  Thanks Harry!

Later today I'll be posting a first contribution from Cllr Robin Millar.

In the middle column we hope to develop a list of blogging Conservative councillors.  If you want to be added to the blogroll please email Sam.  All we ask is for a reciprocal link!

Eric Pickles MP: Are you up for it?

Eric Pickles, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, launches ConservativeHome's new local government blog with a challenge...

I’ve got a question for our Conservative Councillors – are you up for it?

Or, to put it another way - are you part of the dependency culture?

Do you want us to replace one set of targets with another?

Do you really want a Conservative Government to scrap the raft of bureaucracy and regulation that stifles local democracy, or are you just looking for the comfy option?

Dependency culture runs deep. Unless you have been a Councillor for at least a couple of decades you will have no experience of exercising unfettered power and freewill to make decisions for your local community.

I asked local government leaders recently, “do you want us to tear down the prison walls of regulations or do you want me to build you a more comfortable cell?” Perhaps one with a better view, and a more humane jailer?

There is something soporifically comfortable about CPA (Comprehensive Performance Assessment)- you tick the boxes, you get the stars, and then you try to persuade your electorate that this is important.