Pages 6-9 of the Little Book:
As a consequence of the intended reorganisation Uttlesford will lose its own elected council and planning powers. The district will be swallowed into a unitary authority and these functions centralised elsewhere.
Your elected local representatives will be fewer and more distant. And guess what? The Westminster parties see this as an opportunity to consolidate their power.
However, this corner of Essex has a stubborn streak. Think Boadica and Oliver Cromwell. Fast forward from the English civil war to 2019 when Uttlesford voters emphatically turned away from Westminster politics to deliver an independently-controlled district council. That shift has been a breath of fresh air: less petty tribalism, fewer partisan shouting matches and more sensible decisions.
Keeping that spirit alive under the new structure won’t be easy, but we have to try.
It’s only a ‘wish’ at the moment – most of the local authorities in Essex, including Uttlesford, favour the creation of five unitary authorities, grouped as indicated on the map. This would see Uttlesford merged with Harlow and Epping Forest councils to create the North West Essex Unitary Authority.
Faced with the inevitability of reorganisation this is thought to be the best way of retaining a connection to locality, while still meeting Govt’s desire for scale. However the Conservative Party (historically but no longer the dominant party in Essex) favours two mega-unitaries. The decision ultimately will be made by Whitehall.
Govt claims that fewer, bigger units will offer economies of scale. Even if this were true (and evidence is scarce) is cost saving really all that matters? Government by spreadsheet is a dead-end street.