Лидеры графства Ланкашир назвали новое объединенное правительство Пеннин Ланкашир

Lancashire’s leaders are publishing a joint response to the government’s plans to shake up democracy at a local level, which will abolish the county’s 15 councils and replace them with four large unitary authorities. The letter from each of these councils, due to be signed off on Monday (August 17), has revealed more information about how the large new authority covering East Lancashire will work, as well as its name. As expected from the proposals submitted to the government, the areas previously covered by Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Rossendale, Pendle, and Burnley councils will all fall under one authority – which we now know will be called Pennine Lancashire. This new body will not assume power until April 2028, but the letter from county leaders makes clear that Blackburn with Darwen, the only unitary authority in East Lancashire, will play a pivotal role in shaping its future. Elections to the interim body, called the ‘shadow’ authority, will take place in May 2027, but the work to consolidate services and set out how the Pennine Lancashire authority will function is already underway. The letter to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, signed off by Blackburn with Darwen’s Executive on Thursday (August 13), explains that a member of the council will chair the Joint Committee for Pennine Lancashire, which will oversee the transition and draft the shadow authority’s constitution This committee will be staffed by councillors from all of the bodies being rolled into this new authority, but with substantial weighting toward Blackburn with Darwen, whose representatives will make up half of the committee. The rest of its members will come from the four other councils that are being abolished through the Local Government Reorganisation process, with the committee’s deputy chair required to come from one of these lower-tier authorities. But while these councillors will have a great deal of power to influence the body that replaces them, it isn’t clear if they will have much time to shape the new authority. This is because the UK Government must pass special legislation, called a Structural Changes Order, to create the arrangements for these new shadow authorities and for the joint committees to begin meeting. It will also scrap next year’s local elections for the soon-to-be defunct local authorities and set the terms of their current councillors to March 31, 2028, the last day that these councils will exist. With this legislation expected to go through Parliament in early 2027, this committee will have just a few months to discuss and implement these changes before the elections to the new ‘shadow’ authority take place. Blackburn with Darwen’s Executive noted: “Given the short timeframe between the Structural Changes Order being laid in Parliament and the elections to the Shadow Authority in May 2027, the role of the Pennine Lancashire Joint Committee may be limited, both in timescale and in function.” While this could prove a challenge for the committee, the letter explains that all of the councils in East Lancashire will work together ‘on a voluntary basis’ before the legislation is passed by Parliament. Read more Hyndburn volunteer group’s 'self-defence' classes led by former neo-Nazi Residents ‘horrified’ by plans for six luxury homes on Green Belt Reform UK supporters invited to spend £100 on dinner with Lee Anderson It should be noted that, while this committee may be short-lived, Blackburn’s influence over Pennine Lancashire will continue for another 11 months, as chief executive Denise Park has been lined up as the new authority’s Deputy Lead Officer for Implementation, under the county council’s chief, Mark Wynn. The letter also lays out the new warding arrangements for Blackburn with Darwen, which will see the borough's number of councillors slashed almost in half, from 51 to 27. In total, there will be 95 councillors elected across all wards in the new authority. These new electoral boundaries will be used for the shadow elections in May 2027, but will be reviewed by the Boundary Commission before the follow-up elections in 2032. The Pennine Lancashire electoral wards that will replace the current Blackburn with Darwen ones, as well as how many councillors they will elect, are as follows: - Audley & Queen's Park and Blackburn South East – 3 - Bastwell & Daisyfield and Shear Brown & Corporation Park – 3 - Billinge & Beardwood – 2 - Livesey with Pleasington – 2 - Blackburn Central and Wensley Fold – 3 - Blackburn South & Lower Darwen and Darwen East – 3 - Darwen South and Darwen West – 3 - Ewood and Mill Hill & Moorgate – 3 - Little Harwood & Whitebirk and Roe Lee – 3 - West Pennine - 2 The number of councillors in Pennine Lancashire will be cut by more than half, from 216 to 95. Burnley's 45 councillors will be trimmed, with reductions to Hyndburn's 35 members, Pendle's 33, Rossendale's 30, and the 22 county councillor roles covering the east of Lancashire also being made defunct.