Town's council opposes merger with neighbour

A town's council bosses have decided to send a post-devolution plan to the government which makes it clear it could not support a merger with its neighbouring authority.

Burnley Council's ruling executive, made up of Burnley Independent Group and Liberal Democrat councillors, voted to send its preference for five unitary authorities, rather than two, to ministers.

Burnley's full budget council previously agreed the opposition to any plans to amalgamate into a single East Lancashire all-purpose local authority including Blackburn with Darwen.

The executive said it remained "open to district configurations as long as the districts of Burnley and Blackburn were in separate unitary councils".

The full budget council had earlier opposed any large unitary council as proposed in a government White Paper, saying it was not "the right solution for our area".

At its meeting, the executive resolved to "note and endorse that Lancashire leaders submit a high-level interim plan for local government reorganisation in Lancashire with multiple options".

It said it was "crucial for Burnley to take a proactive stance".

Meanwhile, Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Phil Riley, who chaired the first meeting of the new Lancashire Combined Authority on Tuesday, told senior colleagues on his borough's executive board he accepted that the 15 existing councils would not support a single proposal for local government reorganisation post-devolution.

However, he said after "an outbreak of common sense" their leaders seemed set to sign an initial letter of response to the government.

He said it would be "pretty bland to be honest" in order to secure all 15 signatures.

But he said with the government wanting the new all purpose councils to serve populations of at least 500,000 it was pretty clear what the direction of travel was.

Riley added he firmly believed a new East Lancashire unitary authority with Blackburn with Darwen at its heart would be created.

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