Council shake-up may not go ahead until 2015

Catriona Loughran • Published 8 Apr 2010 15:30 0 Comments

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The amalgamation of Fermanagh and Omagh District Councils could be deferred until 2015-a paper into new proposals for local government reform has revealed.

Environment Minister Edwin Poots is considering three options as part of his department's attempt to resolve issues that could prevent local government reform from being able to proceed.

In 2008, as part of the Review of Public Administration, the Executive agreed to cut Northern Ireland's local council authorities from 26 to 11 by 2011.

Fermanagh District Council is set to merge with Omagh District Council.

Currently, disagreements over council boundaries, economic appraisals and the way local government reform should be financed has hampered departmental progress over the last two years raising questions as to whether reform can actually take place under the existing timeframe.

Last October, the minister denied that the shake-up of local government under RPA was to be scrapped and said he was absolutely committed to delivering the programme of reform.

In March, the Minister met with political representatives reaffirming his commitment and put forward an options paper for parties to consider.

The first of three options is that the programme proceeds as planned, on foot of early agreement over outstanding issues.

But problems over council boundaries particularly in the greater Belfast area a major sticking point, this option could be seen as impractical and too late to proceed under the timeframe.

The second option is that the Executive bring the new 11 council model into being in shadow mode in May 2014 with full transfer of powers in May 2015.

This, according to the Minister, would give sufficient time to allow for properly managed handover of powers to the 11 councils and for rates convergence issues to be addressed as part of the handover process.

It would also mean that the planned elections in May 2011 would be held under the existing 26 councils with the Minister expected to write to Security Minister Paul Goggins to urgently explain the position and invite him to provide for such elections.

Although all functions won't be transferred immediately, there would still be considerable merit in ensuring some functions could be transferred in the existing 26 council model such as planning.

Minister Poots has carefully considered the potential for transferring land use planning functions to local government as planned in May 2011 and concluded in the paper that it would be feasible and desirable to do so.

This option looks set to be the most favourable as it would allow reform to progress gradually and give the new councils an indication of how well they can work the new powers into local government.

The third option is that the Executive brings in the new 11 council model in shadow mode in May 2014 with full transfer of powers and functions in May 2015.

Like option two, this would give sufficient time to allow for properly managed handover of powers to the 11 councils and for rates convergence issues to be addressed as part of the handover process.

But none of the functions earmarked for transfer would do so until May 2015, when new 11 councils take up their full range of powers.

This could be seen as risky, as Assembly Elections could result in a new Minister who could change the agreed council shake-up or scrap it altogether.

It's understood Minister Poots is expected to have a further meeting between representatives of the parties to the Executive as soon as possible to consider and discuss the above options, with a view to seeking a consensus on the way forward to enable him to put agreed proposals to the Executive.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 08 Apr 10

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