Buckinghamshire Council wants to pull out of the proposed Thames Valley Strategic Authority — the big mayoral area, including West Berkshire, planned in the government's local government rejig.
Last week the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government published proposed boundaries for spatial development plans. Buckinghamshire was included in a group with Oxfordshire County Council, the six Berkshire unitaries and Swindon Borough Council, and has asked for a “correction” to those borders.
Buckinghamshire is the only council in that group which has not been working towards setting up a Thames Valley strategic authority. Council leader Steven Broadbent (Con) said it was “disappointing” because the government had previously indicated new arrangements would not be based on “unwilling partners”.
He added: “This does not reflect our position, and we have asked the government to correct the map to show Buckinghamshire as ‘grey space’, as there is no consensus for our inclusion.”
Buckinghamshire has been reluctant to join regional devolution talks. This week Mr Broadbent said the authority wanted to go it alone and added: “We remain ready to progress such devolution at pace and have repeated our request for a meeting to discuss next steps on this basis.”
Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter
