A debate is lingering over whether councils in Berkshire and Oxfordshire should join forces with Swindon in major changes to local government.
The leaders of Berkshire and Oxfordshire councils agree that they should merge to create the Thames Valley Strategic Authority.
This new higher-level local government organisation would have an elected mayor and be in charge of major policies, including planning, affordable housing and infrastructure projects.
However, there is a debate over whether Swindon should be included, which was discussed at a meeting of the Berkshire Prosperity Board, which is made up of the six councils in the county.
Councils have been asked to submit proposals for new strategic authorities to the Labour government next month.
Simon Werner (Liberal Democrats, Pinkneys Green), leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, said: “At the end of the day, I think it’s very likely that we won’t be able to come to an agreement about the geography, is Swindon in or out?
“For instance, in Windsor and Maidenhead, I’d have great difficulty putting anything that included Swindon.
“I’m sure in Reading you’d have to great difficulty putting anything through that didn’t include Swindon!
“So I think we should be working on the basis that we won’t come to agreement and we need to plan for that eventuality.”
Dexter Smith (Conservative, Colnbrook & Poyle), leader of Slough Borough Council, argued that the Berkshire and Oxfordshire councils should be ‘at the core’ of the Thames Valley Strategic Authority.
The leaders emphasised the urgency of submitting the plans to the government as soon as possible.
Stephen Conway (Liberal Democrats, Twyford, Ruscombe & Hurst), the leader of Wokingham Borough Council said: “The simple fact is there’ll certainly be less government money left if we leave it too late. So I think this is our desire to get a foot in the door, even though we haven’t yet finalised the geography.
“And, from that perspective, it seems to me to make great sense to move forward as soon as we can, even with that problem of geography unresolved.”
“We agree that we needed to make the next step because broadly we agree about Oxfordshire and Berkshire, what no one else has said is that we all know that the Thames Valley may also mean Buckinghamshire not just Swindon. So let’s just be clear that there may not be a broad agreement about what the area is in its entirety, but there’s a broad agreement about the fact that there’s an economic imperative here for our areas for all the residents and all the people that we work with about making sure that it’s recognised how important the Thames Valley is economically for the whole country.
“If we don’t get on with this, we risk being right at the back of the queue, we need to make sure that we don’t let our residents down just because of a bit of geography.
“Now I say it that a bit carelessly because I understand the geography is important to all of us, but we need to get ourselves over the line.
Agreeing, Mary Temperton (Labour, Great Hollands) argued the submission to the government was not something that could not be put off.
Ultimately, the leaders agreed to submit an expression of interest to the government to be included in its devolution programme, with the preference of creating a Thames Valley Strategic Authority led by an elected mayor.
