LGR: Maps, Mayhem & the Lame Ducks | Rowan Cole & Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) Series

In this episode of the LGR Podcast, Councillor Paul Follows discusses the implications of local government reorganisation in Surrey, focusing on the challenges and opportunities presented by unitarisation and devolution. He expresses concerns about the financial sustainability of the new council, the need for local government finance reforms, and the importance of engaging residents in the decision-making process. The conversation highlights the complexities of merging boroughs with differing financial profiles and the potential for creating a new council culture that prioritises public service.

This week, the focus is on what happens when elections don’t happen. Across England, mayoral contests are being pushed back, council elections postponed, and existing leaders are carrying on in office long after voters expected to have their say. The machinery of local government keeps turning – budgets are set, decisions are made – but the mandate behind those decisions starts to look increasingly thin.To help unpack all of this, from the tactical arguments about ‘flexibility’ to the bigger questions of democratic legitimacy, I’m joined by Oliver Deed, Managing Director of E.C.F., who works closely with councils navigating reorganisation, devolution deals and the messy realities of implementation.

Local Government Reorganisation is often treated as a technical exercise in redrawing boundaries and merging councils. This article argues that structure alone does not determine success. Drawing on a detailed conversation with former council chief executive Robert Moran, it examines why reorganisation only improves planning and delivery outcomes when councils are clear about authority, delegation and political leadership from the outset. Using Surrey as a live test case and linking to earlier interviews in the LGR Governance Series, the piece explores how governance choices made in the first year shape planning performance, public trust and organisational confidence long after vesting day.

Local Government Reorganisation is reshaping councils, planning systems and democratic accountability across England. In this episode of the LGR Governance Series, series editor Rowan Cole speaks with former Cabinet Member for Planning Andrew Kelly about the democratic consequences of creating larger unitary authorities.While reorganisation is often sold as an efficiency reform, Kelly argues the real risk sits elsewhere. Fewer councillors, larger wards and more distant decision making can weaken local representation, stretch casework capacity and erode public trust. Drawing on lived experience from Surrey and beyond, this conversation explores what happens when scale grows faster than democratic capacity.The discussion examines why planning decisions can never be purely technical, how judgement and accountability shape outcomes, and why political oversight matters most on controversial or finely balanced schemes. Kelly also reflects on reform fatigue, transition risk and the danger of councils beginning life with thin electoral mandates.This episode is essential listening for councillors, planning officers, developers, consultants and anyone working in or around local government reform. It offers grounded insight into the trade offs behind Local Government Reorganisation, and why democratic legitimacy may be the hardest issue for new councils to resolve.Subscribe to the LGR Series for expert analysis on governance, planning reform and the future of local democracy in England.