Councillors and leaders in Lincolnshire aren't convinced a single-tier authority will meet all the county's needs, as Tony McArdle and Jamie Hailstone explain

When the local government White Paper was published in October, all eyes were on those councils which would go for unitary status.
But, as the deadline for submissions grows ever closer, authorities such as Lincolnshire CC, are starting to make some noise about why a single-tier of local government might not be the miracle cure after all.
Lincolnshire, and its seven authorities – Boston BC, East Lindsey DC, Lincoln City Council, North Kesteven DC, South Kesteven DC, South Holland DC, and West Lindsey DC – have been working on a Pathfinder bid for enhanced two-tier status, which they hope will put the county on the map.
The leaders and chief executives of the districts and the county held a workshop in December with Professor Stephen Leach, from De Monfort University, to discuss the benefits of going for a two-tier model.
The workshop discussed the needs of recognising the role of greater Lincoln, and how the Government expects two-tier to be as efficient as unitary areas.
Council chiefs are now working on final proposals for their bid, which will be signed off in time for the 25 January deadline.
‘Lincolnshire is a large county,' explains Lincoln City Council chief executive, Andrew Taylor. ‘It would be difficult to make unitary government work here.
‘Quite frankly, unitary government is not the panacea for all ills. If it does not naturally relate to the area it seeks to govern, then a unitary authority will fail.'
Mr Taylor admits that the city of Lincoln did have ‘long-standing ambitions' of its own to go for unitary status, but he adds: ‘Having said that, we recognise that under the rules laid down by the Government, it would not be appropriate for Lincoln.'
But chief executive of South Holland DC, Terry Huggins, sees different benefits in the enhanced two-tier model. ‘Our perspective comes from being at the edge of a large county,' he says. ‘We are a sparsely-populated area. We are more than one hour's travelling time from both the county council and city council headquarters. The pull for our local economy comes from Peterborough.
‘For us, the benefits of improved two-tier working is that it will enable areas such as ours to still have the ability to tailor services and shape the South Holland area.' Mr Huggins also thinks the enhanced, two-tier model will appeal to other rural counties. ‘I think counties which are sparsley populated would be more inclined to look at the two-tier solution,' he says.
‘One of the things in Lincolnshire we are concentrating on at present is enhancing trust and working between the county and the districts.
‘There's a sense we are in a new era of relationships between the county and the districts.
‘All of us are willing to put aside individual preferences for what is good for the whole county.
‘People value both entities,' he continues. ‘They value being part of a county like Lincolnshire and being part of a district they identify with.'
For the leader of Lincolnshire CC, Martin Hills, the shared services the county and the district have developed ‘are a good bedrock to build on and move on'.
He adds: ‘The county is a huge area to cover. Even if we had a unitary authority, we would still need an infrastructure which would look something like a district council.
‘So the question is – is it worth a great deal of upheaval to get something that we have already?'
‘We all have regular meetings together. We can thrash things out, because we are all sitting down. We can drive things forward which, collectively, are good for Lincolnshire.'