Luddington’s District Ward Councillor is Cliff Brown, who keeps us regularly updated with what happening in the district each month.
Read the latest edition below:
October 2025
We are starting to reach a critical point on Local Government Re-organisation (LGR) and English Devolution (Devo) with decision points for both things, that will effect all residents of Warwickshire, fast approaching. The Government appears to be focusing mainly on Devo with LGR on the back burner. However, with the tight schedule for LGR this will have to change unless the Government is willing to extend the implementation and Vesting Date. This would mean going beyond the term of this Parliament. At present the Government would appear to be happier limiting consultation rather than extending the implementation period.
The Timetable (subject to slippage ) is as follows –
Existing councils to submit proposals for LGR by end of November 2025
Feedback from Government by Mid December 2025
Consultation period (probably only a couple of weeks)
Decision By Government of format of new authority/authorities by early 2026 (expected Feb/Mar)
Detailed design to hold shadow authority elections in April 2027
Elected Shadow Authority – to run concurrently with existing County and District Councils. Shadow authorities/authority will complete detailed design (shape, size, pattern and powers of the New Authorities) This may include boundary changes.
Existing Authorities will run existing services until Vesting Day of new authorities/authority. Tenure for existing councillors will be extended/shortened as necessary.
April 2028 Vesting Day – New authorities /authority takes over.
At present there are 5 District and 1 County council in Warwickshire – None of these will exist after LGR – Even if the Government opt for a single authority – it will significantly differ from what is there at present. There are people who believe that re-badging Warwickshire would be the simplest and cheapest solution. I feel that is an over simplification. The unitary authority will have to deal with everything from antisocial behaviour and litter on the streets of our towns and villages up to strategic services essential for Education and Adult Social Care and business and economic development. At the same time it must have a local focus for all settlements – not just the larger towns.
It’s a big ask and I doubt it will come cheaply. At the moment, there are two outline plans. Each of the 6 existing councils will be voting on their preferred option in the next couple of weeks. It appears that 4 of the District councils prefer 2 unitaries and 1 plus the county favour 1 authority. We have to put a proposal to the Local Government Minister by Mid November – it’s possible there will be two options going forward. Whatever happens the Minister will decide.
My concern is that, if the timetable is adhered to, the time available for consultation will be limited.
Obviously, the other issue is the Devo arrangements. The Government will require all the Unitary Councils to join a strategic Combined Authority (Mayoralty). Warwickshire’s approach to join the West Midlands was rebuffed by the West Midland Mayor, despite the inter-connectedness of Warwickshire and the West Midlands. The other option that appears on the table is joining with another south west midlands County or Counties and forming a Mayoralty to act as our regional lead authority. As a large amount of government funding will be routed via this regional Mayor it will be critical for us all in the future that a proper decision is made.
As, I’m sure you can appreciate, this is taking a lot of time and energy and will impact on all councils ability to run current services. My Lib Dem colleagues and I are determined to keep “business as usual” at the forefront of our minds. Sadly there are already more meetings at all levels than are healthy and increasing fixture clashes. I will endeavour to keep in touch each month by means of a report (hopefully shorter than this) and will still attend as many Parish Council meetings as possible to keep you updated in person.
Planning
The recent Bordon Hill planning appeal confirmed our worst fears. The Government has effectively moved the goalposts (twice in fact) and has removed our Forward Land Supply figure firstly the NPPF reduced it to 5.2 years and the calculation by the Planning Inspector at Bordon Hill further reduced it to 2.7 years. These are political decisions over which we have no control – it affects 60% of planning authorities in England – most of whom are in a much worse state.
It means that the District has to develop a more pragmatic view on planning in general until we can get back our buffer. Parishes are likely to see more speculative planning applications in the coming months a developers test the waters. We are looking at boosting and re-invigorating the Planning, Enforcement, and Legal staff to be much more robust with developers. We are also looking at tactics to rebuild our 5 year land supply by identifying actual completions and empty properties and reviewing reserved sites. There are quite a few tactical things we can and will do but I don’t feel it wise to discuss them here.
Planning conditions are an effective way of controlling matters – a conditional permission is unlikely to be appealed – but we must ensure that conditions are complied with by builders and developers.
Highways
I have approved several schemes across the Division from my devolved highways budget Many. Redundancies and reorganisation of the Highways Department and the change of administration has effected implementation but I will be pushing for priority projects to be commenced as soon as possible and all projects to be completed in this financial year. I am meeting new managers on 15th October to commence this programme.
Potholes – Many people are complaining about potholes – and quite rightly – I’ve spent more money that I want to on tracking and tyres since I started driving across the Division. I have had some success getting potholes filled in – in fact everything I’ve reported has been fixed. Most of these are quite well known and are sent to me by more than one person – when I contact Highways I find that they have not been reported before – I am happy to continue to report the potholes to county and take the credit, but it would be useful if residents could use the system for reporting highways defects – it does work most of the time and I have had a number of potholes filled, road signs replaced, cleaned and freed from rampant hedges. If its reported and not fixed within 7 days feel free to let me know and I will ensure there is nowhere to hide in the Budbrook Depot.
Education
SEND. The override on SEND continues, the Government has kicked the can down the road but has now agreed to find it and give us a solution by the end of the year. The County Council Leader has written to the Education Secretary asking for more money.
The Lib Dem group at county were able to get an amendment accepted that beefed up the administrations request and included home to school transport, another great cost we have to bear.
School Transport – The current school transport policy is almost incomprehensible to me. In the South of Warwickshire we have few schools and rural bus services really don’t cope well – There is a review going on to make the availability of school transport fairer and more easily accessed in south Warwickshire. The current policy has raised a number of issues where it appears the further from the school you live the less likely it is that you get assistance with transport. It appears based upon whether parents accept their 1st choice school – and if they refuse an offer of any school even if there are no closer places available they are refused assistance. No regard seems to be given to whether there is a bus service or its frequency and parents are told that its ok “it’s a £3 flat fare”. Well, that’s a 50% increase and is £6 if you want to come home, more if you have to change buses. The fares when multiplied for a school year can lead to hundreds of pounds for getting a child to school. This has an inordinately strong impact on low income families living in rural areas. I am interacting with the review to get local voices heard.
Open Space – Just a note on the playing field/school field in Welford I have asked for a meeting with the Education Department – because I don’t agree the residents of Welford are getting a good deal. There should be a compromise over what many see as a high handed land grab by the school of the playing field. I want to see the rights of he village taken into account by the Education Department – not just putting the schools needs before any other issues. I will keep you informed on this one.
Adult Social Care
This is another high cost can kicked down the road. It appears that it will impacted upon by the NHS 10 year plan so not much happening at the moment but a solution is sorely needed.
Community Matters
Parish councils will become a vital part of the future following LGR and Devo as I have said I will endeavour to keep the highest level of communication with all of you in the coming months. There will be a number of extraordinary Parish Forums held in the critical period running up to next February. They are virtual meetings. The Clerk and Chair of each Parish is usually invited but all councillors are able to attend as observers.
Christmas is fast approaching and will add more events to an already busy schedule. I am happy to attend Christmas events and will do as often as I can, but please don’t be offended if I can’t make everything. I will share myself out as best as I can.
Warmest Regards
Cliff