Council 'should be at centre' of new merger

A council should be at the "centre" of any potential merger, one of its leading councillors has said.

Slough Borough Council is looking at a range of options to merge with other councils under a major government-led shakeup.

It could potentially merge with a west London borough, with other councils in Berkshire, or could be part of a Thames Valley-wide strategic authority.

Gurcharan Manku, a senior member of Slough Borough Council, said he wanted the authority to be a leading part of what might follow.

The authority is hundreds of millions of pounds in debt and recently put its former HQ up for sale in an effort to claw back debt.

Mr Manku said: "My doubts are, in Slough we are a unique borough with a diverse population, young population, proximity to Heathrow, a great trading estate."

He said the area had "a very good history of industrialisation, innovation and development".

He added: "We need to take advantage of that and ensure we are at the centre of any unitary authority or strategic authority we go for.

"My fear is that with our critical problems or issues we have, like the debt issue, and the health inequalities issue.

"These are the issues we need to tackle when we negotiate with other authorities."

In December the government announced plants for councils to combine forces as part of large strategic authorities, in an effort to strengthen local government.

Each would have a combined population of at least 1.5m people, and be in charge of large-scale transport, infrastructure, and development.

But so-called smaller principle authorities would be responsible for more localised public services and would cover populations of at least 500,000 people.

Slough Borough Council's cabinet heard of multiple options at a meeting on Monday.

They included a merger with a west London borough or boroughs, but also with Windsor and Maidenhead and Bracknell Forest Councils.

Council leaders in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Swindon have also met to consider whether they could join up under a new strategic authority.

Council leader Dexter Smith said changes could help his authority's "very sizable economic base".

He added that talks would not take place "behind closed doors" as residents would be consulted on proposed changes, and councillors would get a chance to debate them.

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