Warwick District Council leader says it is a ‘rare privilege’ to help orchestrate a possible Stratford merger with a 'Houdini budget'

Warwick District Council’s leader admits it will be a ‘rare privilege’ to help orchestrate a possible merger with neighbouring Stratford District Council to form a super district.

Cllr Andrew Day (Con, Bishop’s Tachbrook) told fellow councillors at yesterday's (Thursday's) cabinet meeting that he had absolute joy in putting forward a number of recommendations that would see the two authorities join forces by April 2024.

He said: “We should recognise that we have already begun this path and that is enabling what I believe is an almost Houdini budget where somehow we are managing to maintain our services - and even improve them in places - while achieving a balanced budget in very difficult financial times.

“We have already started working on our joint waste management contract, a joint local plan and so on. This is a journey and one which we’ve already begun.

“To give clarity, firstly to our residents and secondly to our hard working teams of officers and stakeholders, it is important that we as councillors set out our vision of where this may in fact take us.

“We have had a number of meetings with WALC (Warwickshire and West Midlands Association of Local Councils) and with specific town and parish councils so that they are aware of these proposals - they will of course be able to play an active part in this programme as it comes forward. Local government is local and it is best done cooperatively and we certainly don’t have plans to strike out on our own.

“Finally, may I say this is an extraordinary opportunity for us as councillors to shape a modern and agile local government for south Warwickshire for the next 50 or more years. It is a rare privilege as councillors that we have to work together to shape and create this new entity to meet the needs of today and of the future.”

Among the approved recommendations was one urging the leaders of the two councils to align the responsibilities of their portfolio by May - the start of the new municipal year.

There was unanimous support for the plans although Cllr John Cooke (Con, Kenilworth Abbey and Arden) warned that the process would be tricky at times.

He told the meeting: “This will probably be the largest decision this council makes because it will change the future of the council and commit us to doing something completely different.

“The important thing to bear in mind is about the residents of Warwick and Stratford district and to see how it plays out with them I do think it is going to be a long long and a hard road.”