Devolution

Devolution and local government reorganisation

The Government has decided that Kent and Medway will not be part of the Devolution Priority Programme. The Leaders of Kent County and Medway Councils, have expressed their view that this decision is hugely disappointing and Kent and Medway remains committed to securing a strategic authority.

We are now waiting for more details about the decision and the reasons for it, and we will continue to keep you informed as more information becomes available.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has previously advised that it will be inviting proposals from councils in two tier areas for creation of unitary authorities (ie Local Government Reorganisation). It remains unclear as to when this will occur and whether there will be any consequences for this arising from today’s announcements concerning Devolution.

The government’s English Devolution White Paper, was published on 16 December 2024, it set out its plans for devolution and local government reorganisation, to move power away from Whitehall and simplify local government structures. The government wants all remaining two-tier areas in England to eventually be restructured into single-tier unitary authorities.

The current system of local government

Currently, local areas in England can have single-tier local governments known as ‘unitary authorities’ or two-tier local governments (district councils and county councils). Each county council area has multiple district councils within it.

Unitary authorities carry out all local government functions, whereas two-tier areas have some functions carried out by the district council, such as planning and waste collection and some by the county council, such as education and transport.

Kent, is a two-tier area and services are split between Kent County Council (KCC) and each of 12 city, borough or district councils including Maidstone. Some areas also have parish councils.

What is devolution

At the moment many decisions are made by central government. Through devolution, the government gives powers and funding from central government to the local government so these decisions are made locally.

Devolution is about making decisions closer to the local people, communities and businesses those decisions affect.

Benefits of devolution

Devolution could mean:

better coordination of transport across the whole region
a stronger voice for the region with central government
better support for skills development for residents because money is spent locally rather than by national government
more strategic control over planning and housing

Local government reorganisation

Local government reorganisation is the process that changes the structure and moves the responsibilities of local authorities. In the English Devolution White Paper, the government have said they want to move away from the current two-tier system of district and county councils. The government has said that for most areas this will mean creating councils with a population of 500,000 or more.

Combined authorities

A combined authority is a group of councils coming together formally to work together across their individual boundaries. It means they can benefit from working on a larger scale on issues and opportunities that affect the whole of their area. This could include transport, planning, economic development and adult skills.

Strategic authorities

A strategic authority will be a legal body set up using national legislation that enables a group of two or more councils to collaborate and make collective decisions across council boundaries. Depending on the form of devolution in an area, there are three levels of strategic authority available:

Foundation strategic authority: available to those areas without an elected mayor. It will have limited devolution. For example, the current Lancashire devolution deal will establish a foundation strategic authority.

mayoral strategic authority: for those with an elected mayor, a range of powers will be devolved. For example, the west of England is a mayoral strategic authority.

established mayoral strategic authority: for those mayoral strategic authorities, who are able to satisfy a number of additional governance requirements. They will have access to the most devolution. Greater Manchester and the West Midlands are already at this stage.

Government plans

Devolution is not new. There are already a number of combined authorities across the country. Other areas have previously agreed devolution deals.

The government is seeking to strengthen many of the devolution arrangements currently in place and wants the whole of England to have a consistent approach with regional representation.

The government’s preference is for every area in England to have a Mayor. It is establishing new ‘strategic authorities’ to be led by mayors, they will be given a range of devolved powers and are separate, additional, legal entities to unitary authorities.

Directly elected mayor

The government wants the new strategic combined authorities to have a directly elected mayor. A directly elected mayor would represent all areas included in the strategic authority, including the geographical area of Maidstone.

This would be similar to existing arrangements across the country such as Manchester where Andy Burnham is the Mayor of the Manchester Combined Authority and all the unitary councils. For example, Salford City Council, have council leaders.

Local government reorganisation for Maidstone

The options are currently being considered in discussion with our neighbouring authorities in Kent.

The leader of Maidstone Borough Council along with the Leaders of KCC, Medway Council and the other district and borough councils in Kent submitted an expression of interest to the Deputy Prime Minister in July 2024 just after the general election setting out how they are keen to work with government to shape an innovative and comprehensive devolution deal for Kent and Medway.

Alongside the government’s devolution white paper in December 2024, the government invited KCC to enter a submission to join a Devolution Priority Programme (DPP). KCC consulted with the district and following a decision by KCC cabinet members on 9 January 2025 a letter signed jointly by the leaders of KCC and Medway Council has been sent to Jim McMahon OBE MP, Minister for Local Government and Devolution, to formally request that Kent and Medway be included in the DPP.

A government decision on which areas in the UK have been selected for the DPP is expected by the end of January 2025, after which would come a consultation run by central government.

The Government decision expected by the end of January 2025 has been delayed. This page will be updated when a decision has been made.

Residents

The government has said it will be responsible for consultation activity for the new Mayoral Strategic Authorities and Local Government Reorganisation. We are awaiting further information on when these consultations will be held.

Devolution in other areas

You can read more about devolution in other parts of the country:

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (seven devolution deals since 2009)
West Midlands Combined Authority (three devolution deals since 2015)