April 2018

There is currently a consultation underway on unitary authorities which ends on 25th May. The idea is to do away with a tier of government to save money.

Currently we have Bucks County Council based in Aylesbury mainly responsible for highways, education, social care and libraries. The second tier is the District Councils. mainly responsible for planning and licensing, waste and recycling .

Over the last few years BCC have been proposing themselves as a single unitary authority taking over the work of all the district councils whilst the district councils have been against a single unitary authority and had proposed two such unitary authorities – one in the north run by Aylesbury Vale and one in the south of the County run by an association of South Bucks, Wycombe and Chiltern District Councils.

The Secretary of State for Communities has announced he is minded to go with the BCC proposal and has put the matter out for further consultation until 25th May.

We would urge as many of you as possible to give feedback to Sajid Javid on this. Please send an email to him at sajid.javid.mp@parliament.uk with your views.

Farnham Royal Parish Council supports the creation of two unitary authorities as proposed by the District Councils rather than just one unitary authority led by BCC because:-
There will be less local democratic representation if BCC is the sole authority
The needs of the north of the county are completely different geographically and economically from those of the south
BCC have a poorer performance record than the district councils