Aylesbury Vale District Council to explore case for unitary authority

Aylesbury Vale District Council is to explore the case for the creation of a unitary authority to deliver all essential services in the Aylesbury Vale.

The principle of a unitary council for Aylesbury Vale is supported by all four group leaders of the other parties represented on the council.

Councillor Neil Blake, Leader of AVDC, said: ‘It’s been clear to us for sometime, that the only way we can put the interests of local people first, is by changing the way we are organised and how we deliver services. However, that’s not enough. We need to have a step change in how we deliver services to our community. We have a proven track record of transforming the services that we provide, making them more efficient, cost effective and customer focused. These same principles will obviously need to be applied in the new unitary authority.

There are also some challenges that are specific to Aylesbury Vale. The vast majority of future housing and employment growth across the county area will be in the Vale and we want to be sure that we can manage that growth to achieve the maximum benefit for local residents and businesses. We believe that’s going to be more difficult to achieve within the current structure of local government where, inevitably, the resources of the county council have to be spread further afield. We are open minded about how the detail of a unitary council might operate. The most important thing to do now is to start the debate with the local community and explore what choices would work best.‘

A unitary local government for Aylesbury Vale would mean :

• Decision making would be made locally and more focused on local customer needs and requirements.
• Coordination of service delivery with other service providers would be easier to achieve.
• Resources currently split between two councils would instead be marshalled together and integrated to provide the robust approach needed to get the best deal for the district.
• Current processes which can be cumbersome when there are two authorities involved would be streamlined and more targeted.

The possibility of unitary local government for Aylesbury Vale will be explored further if full council approves the move at its meeting in February 2015.