Proposals
One Somerset’s vision A single council
One Somerset is Somerset County Council’s ambition to replace the county’s five existing councils with a simple, single unitary model. This would end confusion for residents, remove waste and duplication, and free up funding to invest in vital public services. It would offer more powers for local communities and give Somerset one strong voice to lobby for funding.
- Read the full or summary version of our proposals and how they benefit the key stakeholder groups below.
- Read the four independent reports by leading experts, commissioned to analyse the alternative Stronger Somerset proposal.
- The official government consultation into changing the way local councils in Somerset work has now closed. See Somerset County Council’s response to the consultation and find out what’s next here.
For Public Sector Partners
At present, different types of council are responsible for providing different services on behalf of their residents. From a delivery perspective this has an impact on how Somerset local government works with its key public sector partners in the county including health, police, fire, probation and schools. A present partners have to interact and work with representatives from five councils to ensure a consistent service experience to the county’s residents and businesses.
Key points for Public Sector Partners
The range of existing partnerships across the county and the sub-region clearly demonstrate a commitment to cross organisation working. However, the breadth and complexity of the networks that exist also highlights the sheer amount of work and relationship management that is needed to make these arrangements a success in a two-tier area. Aside from the waste partnership, Somerset’s councils have struggled to create a lasting collaboration at a strategic level that can simplify these arrangements in a sustainable way. In recent months, the councils have come together again around the urgent challenge of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has demonstrated Somerset’s capability to collaborate around major and urgent events. But the need to create new joint working arrangements slowed the response in comparison with unitary areas, and has diverted resources away from the urgent front-line challenges.
A single council will improve local government and public service delivery across the area by allowing us to join up and deliver local services, creating greater value for money and providing stronger strategic and local leadership with sustainable structures. This would benefit our partners and the services that they deliver. One Somerset would end the artificial and needless administrative boundaries, delivering annual savings of £18.5m to direct towards front line services. A single council approach has worked well in other places that have adopted it in recent years.
Read more
One Somerset Practitioners Article – Challenges do not respect boundaries
For Parish and Town Councils
One Somerset will provide the opportunity to fundamentally enhance local decision-making and move genuine power and responsibility to local communities and their representatives. We envisage the creation of between 15 and 20 Local Community Networks, reaching every part of the county, that would give local people real power and real influence over the decisions that affect them most.
We are also fortunate to have 278 parish and town councils in Somerset which, as you will appreciate, vary greatly in size in the range of activity they undertake. Establishing a new unitary authority would, we believe, be a huge opportunity to look at this relationship and to seek to devolve decision making, services and assets in a way that benefits our communities and both the unitary and local parish and town councils.
Key points for Parish and Town Councils
As you will see, the business case details the sorts of services and assets that could be devolved where this is appropriate to local circumstances. It is not exhaustive. Devolving assets will need to be broadly cost neutral to both the town or parish councils involved, and the unitary council, in order to not cause financial instability for either partner. So, assets with income would need to be balanced with service responsibilities and costs. But we want to have these discussions with our town and parish councils, and creating the unitary authority allows us to do this.
This devolution of power and resources to the councils and organisations that are at the real heart of our communities, will provide a focus for local engagement and become the channel for local views, feedback, consultation and communication. Importantly this will have a huge value, not just within the unitary council, but it will also create the opportunity to link up more closely with other local public services, notably the NHS, police, schools and the voluntary sector.
For Business
We want Somerset to be a great place to do business, whether that’s creating a start-up or growing an established operation. And we want every business to be able to reach its full potential by creating the right conditions to prosper; a trained and highly skilled workforce, better and more responsive regulatory services and the right infrastructure where and when its needed, whether that’s ultra-fast broadband, regenerating our town centres or improving the county’s highways and public transport.
A strong unitary authority for Somerset would provide singular decision-making, strategic leadership, and voice. This would enable strengthened relationships with regional economic development partners such as HotSW LEP, the Sub-National Transport Board, Great South West (GSW) and WECA and Western Gateway.
Key points for Business
As a strong and effective unitary authority, the One Somerset proposal will provide:
- One voice for Somerset in strategic economic development discussions and negotiations with Government and regional partners.
- One clear message when promoting Somerset for tourism and inward investment through Visit Somerset and Into Somerset.
- One partnership between the council and the business community to make sure that business has a channel for open communication.
- One plan for delivering economic success across the entire county without geographic bias that is developed with influence from the business community.
- One “Wrap Around” economic development service, including planning and highways and business support to seamlessly ease businesses, with the help of an account manager, through Council’s services.
For Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE)
The voluntary and community sector in Somerset plays a crucial role in supporting communities throughout the county and in the delivery of many vital services. This has been reinforced in recent months as we have, collectively, had to contend with the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic. The VCSE is, therefore, a crucial and significant partner working with Somerset County Council to improve and enhance the lives of our residents.
Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE)
One Somerset would deliver direct benefits to the work of the VCSE in the country by ensuring we, collectively, can more effectively address inequality and disadvantage and with the resources needed to do this. In short, One Somerset would enable local government in the county to better work with and support the VCSE and to deliver the objectives of the sector.
For residents
One Somerset would replace the existing 5 councils with a single council for Somerset delivering major savings, better value for money, improved local services, increased powers for local communities and a stronger voice for the people of Somerset
A single council will improve local government and public service delivery across the area by allowing us to join up and deliver local services, creating greater value for money and providing stronger strategic and local leadership with sustainable structures. One Somerset would end the artificial and needless administrative boundaries, delivering annual savings of £18.5m to direct towards front line services. A single council approach has worked well in other places that have adopted it in recent years.
Key points for residents
We believe that on every test, a single council will deliver significant benefits to Somerset and to you and your family, including:
- End the current confusion and mess that having five councils creates.
- Cut red tape and the wasting of tax-payers money.
- Generate greater and quicker savings that can reinvested back into public services.
- Create new local opportunities for residents to have a real say about their own community.
- Create one council listening to the needs and concerns of residents, parishes and businesses, providing clear accountability to the public.
- Create greater opportunities for local businesses to grow and prosper.
- Delivery of outstanding public services to improve the quality of life of all our residents and businesses.
- Give a much stronger voice for Somerset on a regional, national and international stage.
Independent reports
Four independent reports were commissioned by leading experts to analyse the Stronger Somerset proposal (that would create 2 separate east/west unitary authorities, a separate vehicle for the delivery of children’s services, a shared services company and a combined authority). The first report by PwC looks at the overall Stronger Somerset proposal, while there are three further reports looking at the plans for adult social care, children’s services, and place services, like highways, economy, and environment.
The summary findings of the reports are as follows:
- Concerns around the financial analysis and modelling used in the Stronger Somerset business case including an apparent failure to recognise additional costs of its proposed model.
- Concerns around the methodology used including lack of baseline data/facts underpinning existing service delivery and lack of tangible indications of what improvements would look like under the proposals.
- Lack of detail and evidence used to substantiate claims made in the delivery of place, adults’ and children’s services, including around the proposed models of service delivery. It also fails to recognise that the majority of proposed system or service improvement changes have already been implemented or are in the process of being implemented.
- Failure to understand and properly assess the impact of disaggregating existing county wide services including public health, and, then the impact to those services by creating two unitary authorities and in the case of children’s services, an Alternative Delivery Model.
- Failure to understand the current operating and policy environments including Government reform such as the integration of health and care services and ongoing cost pressures within adult and children’s services.
- Concerns around the future financial viability of the proposed model.
- Concerns around the effectiveness of an untried model for public service delivery including the creation of an ADM for children’s services and a combined authority and its future role, without precedent and seemingly contradictory to existing Government policy.
- Concerns that certain major services are absent from the business case including highways and transportation.
Read the full reports below:
The Stronger Somerset proposal, an assessment by PwC. PricewaterhouseCoopers is a multinational professional services network of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. PwC ranks as the second-largest professional services network in the world.
Stronger Somerset proposals for Adult Social Care by Professor John Bolton. Professor John Bolton is Visiting Professor at the Institute of Public Care (Oxford Brookes University) and formerly a Director of Social Services in local government as well as Strategic Finance Director at the Department of Health and Social Care.
Stronger Somerset proposals for Children’s Services by Trevor Doughty. Trevor Doughty is a former Director of Children’s Services in two authorities and a Director of Social Services. In both authorities he was part of a programme to become a unitary council and he also led Cornwall from an Inadequate Ofsted rating to Outstanding. Currently a Commissioner and Advisor for the Department for Education.
Stronger Somerset proposals for Place Services by Neil Gibson. Neil Gibson is formerly an Executive Director for Transport, Economy and Environment in local government and former President of the Association of the Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transportation (ADEPT).