Borough Council Leader urges residents to call on the Government to keep local authorities local

Borough Council leader, Burbage Parish Councillor Stuart Bray, is calling on residents to urge the Government to keep local authorities local.

Just before Christmas, the UK government published plans to restructure local government in England, which, in Leicestershire, could mean all district councils being scrapped and replaced by one large council.

Leicestershire County Council has asked the Government to cancel scheduled county elections in May, with a view to fast-tracking the way to creating one large unitary authority which would serve the whole of the Leicestershire and Rutland, apart from the city of Leicester.

This move was made without consulting or giving notice to the district and borough councils that would be affected.

Cllr Bray is calling on residents of Hinckley and Bosworth to email Jim McMahon MP, the Government minister responsible for local government, if they have concerns about the plans.

Cllr Bray said: "The Government is preparing to impose a large, remote and inaccessible super-council on the people of Leicestershire without consulting them first.

"It is important that Mr McMahon hears the voices of our residents, who will be heavily affected by the proposed changes.

"The message central government needs to hear is simple: Keep the 'local' in local government, keep decision-making in the hands of local people and do not cancel the county elections in May."

He added: "Borough and district councils are best placed to serve their residents. They are deeply embedded within local communities and are in tune with what the area and its people need.

"The people of Hinckley and Bosworth have a powerful voice and must use it to stop local decision-making being taken further away from them."

The Minister of State for Local Government can be contacted by emailing jim.mcmahon.mp@parliament.uk