How many local authorities do we need?
2. December 2008 – 19:59 by Rolf LuehrsJust found some interesting figures about the number of local authorities in different European countries:
As is increasingly recognised, UK local government already operates on a scale that would prompt most democratic countries to put inverted commas around ‘local’. Our 468 principal local authorities for the 60 million of us equate to an average population of 128,000, or one councillor for every 2,730 residents.
The 60 million French get over half a million councillors in their 36,700 communes alone – one for every 120 of them. The Swedes get one per 200, the Germans one per 420, the Spanish and Italians one per 600, and again these ratios are for only the most local tier in 2- or 3-tier local government systems.
Take away England’s current 34 shire counties – as the Government has already started to – and England’s most local tier of 354 district, borough and unitary councils has an average population of over 140,000. By comparison, the commune/municipality average in France is 1,600, in Spain 5,000, in Germany and Italy about 7,000, and even in recently restructured Denmark about 50,000. (opendemocracy.net)
The author, Chris Game, argues that the plans of the British Government to further enlarge the counties will increase the already perceived democratic deficit. Maybe eGovernment and eParticipation helped to mitigate the consequences?
Tags: eParticipation, public authorities, UK
4 Responses to “How many local authorities do we need?”
By Shane McCracken on Dec 2, 2008
You need to be careful on these comparisons. In the UK we may have one local authority councillor for every 2,730 people but in rural areas we also have parish councillors. In our parish there are 8 councillors serving a population of 469. One for every 60.
By Rolf Lührs on Dec 4, 2008
Thanks, Shane for this info. In fact I do not know much about the PA/Citizens ratio in UK. So, would you disagree with Chris Game that there are already not enough councillors per citizen?
By Shane McCracken on Dec 4, 2008
Hi Rolf (and I assume Chris may be reading),
I don’t think numbers are the issue. Although the Parish level of councillors only exists in rural communities there are plans to introduce “urban parishes” and that will address the numbers.
The main problem is that Councillors are often perceived as toothless. Planning decisions they make get over-ruled by the National Inspectorate. They are sometimes seen as administrators meeting central government targets rather than leading local communities.
The main issue facing local democracy is the power that local representatives can effectively wield, and the time they have to do their jobs (but I am not advocating full-time councillors but more effective use of their time).
Fortunately all major parties talk about making local government more relevant. We just need to see how they go about it.
An interesting piece of work that this forum is well placed to produce would be to create a chart comparing, across Europe, the levels of elected representative, the ratio of population to representative and the powers they are able to exercise. A final element showing turnout at elections might be telling too!