Cost of shutting Uttlesford council is 'being kept secret'

A Liberal Democrat councillor has raised concerns over the cost of scrapping Uttlesford Council as part of Labour’s major reorganisation of local government in Essex.

The council leader has insisted that "nothing is secret".

The Labour Government is introducing the biggest change to local councils in 50 years.

It plans to scrap all local authorities and replace them with a few larger councils that would manage all local services from bin collections and highway maintenance to schools and social care.

No full details have been made public, but Uttlesford, Harlow, and Epping Forest could all merge into one new council, which would also take on the responsibilities of Essex County Council. 

At the meeting, Lib Dem councillor Alan Dean said: "What worries me is there is no progress in understanding the scale of the exercise, and one of the problems, with this whole thing, is it’s being kept secret because the minutes are being not published so we don’t know what’s going on.

"I’d like some information about what the process is, to work out what we are eventually going to have to cough up for this whole process.

"Even if it is preliminary and what’s in and what’s out of our own pockets, it’s just a mystery at the moment.

"It’s particularly made the case by the fact the whole thing is being kept secret by the leader and whoever she chooses to give information to."

Cllr Petrina Lees, leader of Uttlesford District Council (Image: LDRS) Council leader Petrina Lees, Residents for Uttlesford, said: "Nothing is secret, I’ve spoken to other councils and people have asked me why am I having meeting with opposition leaders.

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"I am having meetings on a regular basis with Cllr Moran, Cllr Sell, nothing is secret, nobody has kept anything secret.

"I need to make it very clear Cllr Dean, that is incorrect, if you are unsure and Cllr Sell cannot answer come to me and I will tell you what we’ve discussed with leaders of the opposition.

"In the budget we stated we’ve set aside £2.75million for local government reform, we’ve asked the Government for money, in the letter we’ve signed, we all agreed on March 19, we’ve stated we think it’s going to cost between £5million to £5.75million."