In an essay titled Reorganisation, local government and the future of English Devolution, Localis argues that the establishment of unitary authorities in two-tier areas covering half-a-million residents could see councillor numbers drop from roughly 12,000 to 1,200.
LocalGov writes:
… authors… emeritus professors Colin Copus and Steve Leach, warn that local government reorganisation will burden remaining councillors with increased workloads and insufficient resources to help manage the strain. … also suggests that an increase in population sizes will likely have negative consequences for democratic criteria such as ‘public trust in councillors’, ‘electoral turnout’ and ‘participative engagement’ ….
Localis essay ‘Reorganisation, local government and the future of English Devolution’
