A North West Leicestershire district councillor says that the local government devolution issue is 'an opportunity that needs to be grasped'.

Independent North West Leicestershire District Councillor, Ray Sutton, representing Kegworth ward added that opposition to it so far has been 'political posturing and prevarication'.

Leicestershire could lose its district and borough councils under new Government plans to overhaul England's democratic set-up.

Labour Government plans set out month by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner have been describedas the 'greatest transfer of power from Whitehall to our communities in a generation'. 

The English Devolution White Paper includes a proposal to merge councils in areas such as Leicestershire. into a single organisation. This would "streamline" processes and save money, Ms Rayner said.

This has met with opposition from council leader Cllr Richard Blunt and deputy leader Cllr Michael Wyatt.

Cllr Sutton makes it clear he is not attempting to represent the opinion of North West Leicestershire District Council.

But he said: "Statements issued so far by district council leaders in Leicestershire could best be summed up as political posturing and prevarication and, at worst, self-preservation. I prefer problem-solving and the opportunity must be grasped."

He added: "Living half a mile from the Nottinghamshire boundary, at the very heart of the East Midlands Freeport by M1 Junctions 23a and 24, I see places like Kegworth and Castle Donington as 'Victims of ten years of dithering on devolution by' Tory Leicestershire. 

"We fall further behind the West Midlands, a strategic mayoral authority, every year.

"The election of an East Midlands Mayor, in May 2024, for an area that excludes North West Leicestershire, has left the 'Northern Parishes' of the region out in the cold.

"Preparatory work was done at County Hall in 2018-19 and shelved. 

"My East Midlands challenge to Angela Rayner is to:-

• fast track an expanded East Midlands Mayoral footprint to include all, or just the northern part, of Leicestershire, allowing Labour Leicester no further veto

• fund an immediate Boundary Commission report into the anomalous location of the 'Northern Parishes' in Leicestershire

• fast track the formation of one or two new unitary councils in Leicestershire with elections in 2027, making North West Leicestershire, Charnwood and Melton the priority

• consolidate the East Midlands as a strategic mayoral authority with enhanced powers and a 2028 mayoral election across an enlarged 'three shires' combined authority

"The Northern Parishes generate a high level of business rate income but there is evidence of neglect by politicians in Leicestershire and North West Leicestershire:

• A divided East Midlands Freeport site, only half of it in the current East Midlands Mayoral area

• A divided East Midlands Hydrogen Cluster

• A fragmented university and research sector

• Warehousing and employment sites proliferating near M1 Junction 24 with a minimum of strategic transport investment based on consultation in advance with the local community

• Planning too late and in haste to support residential development

• Years of Leicester-centric and minimalist regard for community infrastructure, environmental impact and service provision in skills, leisure and recreation

• Facilities, healthcare and Education ( for example, we have only had GCSE provision in the area for a few years)
• Peripheral provision services in Leicestershire for remote 'Northern Parishes' residents without any formal cross boundary collaboration (for example, Further and Higher Education, NHS Healthcare, Policing, Sport, Leisure and Culture) and an implicit reliance on the private sector and other counties, cities and districts
• Poor advocacy and coordination over the years by East Midlands MPs and county councillors in general and in NW Leicestershire in particular (for example, accepting a Freeport and land grabbing without advance infrastructure planning, failing to secure Midland Main Line electrification before now, losing HS2).

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