Local government review will be a boost for Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire business, in my view, will welcome Boris Johnson’s idea of creating more directly elected Mayors.

In Gloucestershire, particularly, where we have six district councils with the need to often have one big voice on issues.

Just look at what has happened in the West Midlands. The elected Mayor there, Andy Street, the former John Lewis boss is almost  Boris’s favourite son.

And in Bristol too, we have seen over the past few years government money flow into the city for major costly projects - particularly transport.

Boris Johnson has Levelling Up as his mantra - his definition as Prime Minister. David Cameron had his Big Society.

Both big ideas.

But big ideas in government need detail, and that was sadly lacking in Boris’s Levelling Up half-term report two years after he entered Downing Street.

As the defining mission for this government, business will want to see a lot more flesh on the bones of this skeleton.

However, what did attract me were his thoughts on local council leadership. He wants to encourage more of it from councils wishing to drive through their projects.

In his typical rhetoric, Boris said this brand of more active local leadership was the “ketchup of catch-up”.

It’s not as daft as some people might think because I believe he was giving a nod to the forthcoming local government review out soon.

I believe this review - possibly now delayed until the Autumn - will give a lot more authority to local district councils to drive their own projects and enable them to do so with more direct financial support from Whitehall.

That is what is being achieved by the elected regional Mayors, and business will support that local leadership which will help them grow.

Here in Gloucestershire, we have over 350 local councillors, and I think we must make better use of their vision and local knowledge to really put the county firmly on Boris’s Levelling Up track.

It won’t be easy. Levelling Up, as Boris admitted is a “huge undertaking”.

Gloucestershire needs to embrace it in every way, but more clarity is needed quickly.