The plans to scrap every Lancashire council and start again
Plus: council tenants fight for justice and inappropriate police officer dodges the sack
Hello and welcome to the 72nd edition of The Lancashire Lead. On a weekend when several parts of Lancashire held their big Christmas switch on events, the weather has not played ball. For me, it meant changed plans and a drive through Blackpool Illuminations while for those who’ve spent months planning big events, the impact on attendance and spend must be incredibly disheartening. Let’s hope for an upturn over the next month to get things back on track.
Today’s edition focuses on a proposal from some of Lancashire’s Labour MPs which would see the councils across the county completely removed to be replaced by three new, larger ones as part of the devolution process. Just when it seemed like there would be a least a brief pause to the arguments, it’s all starting back up again and ultimately relates to a desire for a Lancashire mayor. Read on for more on those plans and exactly what it would mean for the county.
The issue also includes news of the Lancashire Constabulary officer who was spared the sack after looking up a colleagues skirt and discussing sexually assaulting a fellow officer, a council’s victory against efforts to build 600 new homes, and battle for compensation and tenancy for people evicted by the same authority.
Police officer discussed sexually assaulting colleague
A police officer has been given a final warning after a misconduct panel heard he looked up another officers skirt and joked about sexually assaulting a fellow officer.
PC Lowe, whose badge number is 4135, was hauled before the panel after being of both misconduct and gross misconduct for offensive and inappropriate actions. The panel convened over three days at Ormskirk Police Station and ended with PC Lowe receiving a final written warning which will remain in place for four years.
The details of the offences make for particularly bleak reading and speak of a culture which police forces across the country have been trying to stamp out. The panel found that PC Lowe was guilty of gross misconduct when he made a comment relating to sexually assaulting a female colleague if he were to search her. To make matters worse, his comment was overheard by the female colleague in question.
He was further found to have committed misconduct as a result of the following
Sending WhatsApp messages to a colleague which included offensive and inappropriate comments referring to two female police constables
When a now former colleague indicated he could see up the skirt of a female colleague and suggested to PC Lowe that he also look, PC Lowe did so and failed to challenge the inappropriate conduct of the now former colleague.
Council tenants evicted for refurb that never happened
By Kevin Gopal
In Lancaster and Morecambe, the Tenants and Community Union (TACU) is gearing up for a campaign on damp and mould. Activists believe the tragic death of young Awaab Ishak in Rochdale has at least forced the social housing sector to become more proactive on maintenance and repairs.
However, it fears that private landlords are not acting and the problem is widespread, particularly because of the climate in the area. TACU was formed as a grassroots member organisation in 2021 to improve the living situations of local people, with a focus on housing.
One of its members, Jim, says it employs a blend of direct action and campaigning. It’s helped people struggling with private landlords wanting to evict them and organised peaceful sit-ins and demonstrations outside council meetings.
“We don’t hesitate to get cracking when something really needs to be done and we really hold ourselves accountable to our membership,” says Jim. Another TACU activist adds: “I can’t stress how much it affects our members’ day to day lives, having to constantly battle against insecure housing.”
Lancaster Council has an unusually large amount of housing stock – 3,702 homes – but waiting lists are long. TACU has supported members who have been told by the council they are making themselves intentionally homeless, therefore reducing its obligation to re-home them.
It has also helped tenants on the Mainway estate in Skerton to organise after many were moved out in advance of a large-scale refurbishment scheme that has stalled. The council intended itself to refurbish two blocks, Lune House and Derby House, but no can no longer afford it, and private developers will instead deliver the homes. More residents are set to be moved out of another building, Bridge House, now it’s been decided to demolish it.
“It seems short-sighted to have started something you can’t actually finish,” says Jim, who says his own six-year council tenancy has been a “lifeline for me – it really has changed my life”.
Working with the Mainway tenants, TACU wants like-for-like accommodation for them, in Skerton if possible, full home loss compensation and disturbance payments, and continuity of secure tenancies. Tellingly, its final demand is “more council houses, not less”.
Jim said:
“In some ways councils themselves are as much victims of a broken system as residents. We’re calling for a shake-up of the whole economics of the system so that councils are empowered to build houses.”
Councillor Caroline Jackson, deputy leader and cabinet member with responsibility for housing, said:
“As part of the MyMainway project, in June this year the council submitted a planning application to build 135 new homes on the former Skerton High site as part of its long-term ambition to provide more affordable housing for its communities. Once built, this first phase is anticipated to provide housing for residents of Mainway.
"If approved, these plans will breathe new life into Skerton with a development that's fit for the future and creates new, modern homes that benefit from the latest energy efficiency measures.
"Separately, Place Capital Group Ltd has successfully obtained planning permission for Lune House and Derby House, however, the sale of these blocks is complex and work has not yet begun.
"Any affected residents have been assisted to find alternative housing solutions, either on Mainway or elsewhere within the council's housing stock. They have been supported financially with moving costs, and where appropriate received compensation.
"Twenty one of the 44 flats in Bridge House are currently occupied and the council continues to liaise with affected residents while the council further considers its future."
This story is part of a feature, published in our sister title The Lead, which explores the challenges across the North of England when it comes to social housing.
Elsewhere in the borough, Lancaster City Council has been backed by the government in its decision to refuse a development of 644 homes at Bailrigg.
Developer Gladman Developments wanted to create the development but saw two applications covering the scheme rejected last December, only to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. It had disputed the reasons for refusal and argued Lancaster’s housing supply problem - where the authority could only demonstrate a 2.5 year supply of homes - supported its position.
But the appeals have now been dismissed following a public inquiry. Helen Hockenhull, a planning inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communites and Local Government to hear the appeals, concluded that the absence of a Sequential Test for flood risk provided “a clear reason for refusing the development proposal”.
A Sequential Test seeks to steer development to areas with the lowest flood risk. Councils can refuse planning permission if other, lower risk, sites are identified as part of the sequential test search process.
The appeal decision noted that there was a shortage of housing within the district, and that the need for more housing was a matter that attracted “substantial weight”. Similarly the inclusion of other benefits, including open space and community facilities, and the economic benefits arising from construction jobs, were amongst factors that were given weight in the inspector’s decision. However the lack of a Sequential Test meant that the inspector considered that there was no alternative but to refuse the appeals.
Councillor Sandra Thornberry, chair of the council’s Planning Regulatory Committee, said:
“The planning inspector’s decision vindicates the recommendation of our planning officers and the decision taken by councillors on the Planning Regulatory Committee.
“It further serves as notice that development proposals that fail to satisfy the Sequential Test for flood risk, when one is required, are likely to be considered unfavourably.
“I’d like to add my thanks and congratulations to everyone from the council who worked on the appeal and presented the successful case.”
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Today’s main story concerns proposals which see Lancashire’s 15 main councils - those at county and borough/district level - scrapped and replaced by three or four news ones.
Local democracy reporter Paul Faulkner writes that the majority of the county’s Labour MPs have this week written to Local Government minister Jim McMahon to push for a radical redrawing of the council map. The overhaul, they say, should be a prelude to the creation of an Andy Burnham-style elected mayor for Lancashire.
If accepted, the proposal would see the three upper tier and 12 lower tier authorities scapped in 18 months time and would represent the biggest council shake-up in Lancashire in half a century. It would see a dramatic reduction in the nearly 700 councillors that currently represent the county within the affected authorities.
Ultimately, the bigger picture of the plan would be enabling a more extensive devolution deal than the one which was first approved by the previous Conservative government and recently rubber-stamped by the new Labour one. When that happened two months ago, Mr McMahon did invite proposals for “deeper and wider devolution” by next autumn.
But those writing the letter have moved much earlier, arguing 12 months is too long to wait for the county to take a further tentative stride down the road to devolution – pressing instead for a much bigger and more ambitious move. Their aim is for a mayor to be elected by 2027 to oversee a much broader suite of powers – and a larger amount of cash – than is currently on the table.
The letter – seen by the LDRS – describes the current deal as not being “ambitious enough” and says the county needs the resources and control “to tackle the great issues of our time”, like health and social care services, transport, regeneration and growth.
The dual-pronged proposal involves a streamlining of the county’s complex two-tier system of local government, under which responsibilities are presently split between the county council and district authorities in most areas, with Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen operating as so-called ‘unitary’ councils who look after all the services in their patch.
The MPs want to bring the latter model, of a single council covering a particular area, to all corners of the county – thereby abolishing the 15 that currently exist. To that end, they have suggested the creation of three or four new local authorities, elections for which would be held in May 2026.
That would involve cancelling the local elections to Lancashire County Council, due to take place next year, and extending the term of its 84 elected members for a further, final 12 months.
Crucially, they tell the government that the councils that would disappear under their blueprint would be “very unlikely” to agree what kind of set-up should replace them – and so ask whether the government would be “willing to impose a new structure on Lancashire”. The MPs add that they would “support” that move – which could prove controversial at a local level – and call for a decision to be made by ministers before the end of the year.
The letter does not set out any suggestions about which districts and boroughs should be merged in order to create the new councils – requesting only that the Boundary Commission be tasked with developing a proposal and stating that each of the replacement authorities should have between 300,000 and 550,000 residents.
That plan would see three councils covering those as yet undesignated areas, with the new county combined authority (CCA) sitting above them.
The signatories acknowledge the “good outcomes” achieved by the existing councils – particularly at a district level – but claim that the two-tier system “does not work for our residents”. They describe the county council as an all-too-often “distant governance system”, while the borough and city authorities are “under-powered, under-sized and under-resourced”.
The LDRS approached several Lancashire Labour MPs regarding the letter, but none was willing to comment.
What has the reaction been?
Interestingly, when the LDRS approached various Labour MPs for comment, they were unwilling to comment. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the three authorities that signed the current deal – Lancashire County Council, Blackpool Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council – reiterated their support for the existing plan.
A spokesperson for the trio pointed to the £20m fundign which has already been released and continued:
“We have also agreed with government that following the publication of the new English devolution bill white paper due before Christmas, we will explore all governance models that reflect the geography, the economy and the political landscape of Lancashire, working closely with local councils and other important stakeholders, ensuring that we remain in a strong position to receive further powers and funding in the future.”
Separately, Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Phil Riley said “the sensible approach” was to concentrate on implementing the deal that has already been done “until we hear a firm direction of travel from the government with regards to local government reorganisation”, while Lancashire County Council leader Phillippa Williamson added:
“The devolution deal received strong support during the public consultation and has been backed and endorsed by all three councils [involved], all four universities and by businesses across every sector of industry and our economy.”
She added that proposals for redrawing the council map have “no consensus” amongst local authority leaders.
Meanwhile, when approached by the LDRS about the MPs’ letter, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – the department of which Jim McMahon is a part – said:
“As part of the biggest transfer of power from Westminster, we want to better support councils that want to move to simpler structures that make sense for their areas and where that better meets the needs of local people.
“We are working with local leaders across England to deliver the most ambitious programme of devolution this country has ever seen, and will set out further details in the upcoming English Devolution White Paper.”
Wyre Council’s Conservative leader Michael Vincent says there is “no evidence” that the streamlined system being suggested is inherently better than the current two-tier operation – but a good reason to believe that it might be worse.
“If you take adult social care away from a Lancashire-wide model…you’ll be competing for staff, which you don’t currently have [to do], and you’ll lose some of the economies of scale that exist,” Cllr Vincent said.
He told the LDRS that Wyre will hold a referendum for its residents on any changes that are ultimately brought forward – and said all other council areas should do the same.
His Tory counterpart at Ribble Valley Borough Council - Cllr Stephen Atkinson - has long been strident in his view that the services delivered by district authorities like his should remain at the local, sub-Lancashire level and described the proposal as “civic vandalism” which would “remove local democracy”.
The leader of Labour-run Preston City Council, Matthew Brown, suggested the move was premature – including their call for next year’s Lancashire County Council elections to be cancelled ahead of replacement local authorities being established in 2026.
“We need to see what the final details will be when the new legislation is published. At this early stage, an attempt should be made through [the] Lancashire Leaders [group] to try and achieve consensus, with support from the Local Government Association or other appropriate bodies around structure, numbers and size of councils if restructuring is taking place.
“I feel an imposition from central government – without a further and final attempt to get agreement on new structures – won’t be well received across the county. If agreement cannot be found there may be no choice, but councils should come up with their own proposals to government first.”
South Ribble Borough Council’s Labour leader Jacky Alty says her authority’s focus ”is – and has always been – to make sure that whatever changes are made to local government recognise the different areas of Lancashire and the best interest of its residents”.
Elsewhere, the Labour leaders of Chorley, Hyndburn and Rossendale councils are yet to respond to a request for comment, as are the leaders of the coalition-controlled authorities in Burnley and Pendle.
West Lancashire Borough Council’s Labour leader said she had no comment to make, while Lancaster City Council said it was unable to respond to a political matter as it is currently without a leader or cabinet. Conservative-controlled Fylde Council told the LDRS it was unaware of the letter sent to the government by Labour MPs.
🤝 Two sisters whose parents died in a crash have spoken about meeting with the driver who caused their deaths (Blog Preston).
👃 A chicken factory in Deepdale is to face a group of nearby residents in court over odour complaints (Blog Preston).
🚨 A former prison officer from Darwen who was cleared of wrongdoing at a criminal trial caused a man's death by unlawful killing, a coroner has concluded (Lancashire Telegraph).
🧑⚖️ Showbiz memories and personal treasures belonging to Eric Morecambe are to be sold at auction (Beyond Radio).
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