THE six Berkshire unitary councils could be set to join forces as leaders explore joint-working across the county.

Discussions revolve around investment and infrastructure and are part of a government thrust to devolve more powers to local authorities.

West Berkshire, Windsor & Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest, Wokingham, Reading, and Slough are currently thrashing out their list of asks.

They have all agreed they will submit an expression of interest in a county devolution deal with the Government.

In the past, the Government has indicated to councils in the area that it would prefer them to pursue a regional devolution deal with councils in the wider area, including those in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire. 

The Government has changed tack and is now seeking to devolve powers to county-sized footprints, and will consider the Berkshire idea. 

“Currently, all six Berkshire council leaders are in the early stages of exploring the option to secure a ‘County Deal’ from government to support investment in the economy and infrastructure of the county,” said Lynne Doherty,(Con: Speen), leader of West Berkshire Council.

“This follows changes announced by government to the way such investment is managed going forwards. 

“At this stage, the council leaders have agreed to have an exploratory discussion with government. 

“This is not about creating a needless combined authority or directly elected Mayor, which would simply bring an additional level of administration and cost, it is about how we can support strategic investment benefitting all council areas, our residents and businesses. 

“As with all our discussions and decisions, we are guided by what is best for West Berkshire.”

While in two-tier areas the county council is being expected to lead on the proposals, in Berkshire it has been proposed that governance could be executed through a joint committee made up of representatives from all six councils. 

However, Slough Borough Council chief executive Josie Wragg told the Local Government Chronicle in July that Berkshire’s four Conservative and two Labour-led administrations “probably don’t make for happy bedfellows”. 

Slough Borough Council leader James Swindlehurst said: "At the last Berkshire Leaders meeting all six Berkshire authorities agreed we shared a number of wider priorities such as investment in skills and job creation for our residents, improving our public transport infrastructure and the decarbonisation of our local environments, but due to the size and capacity of our individual authorities we cannot maximise the delivery of improvements in these areas at scale.

"As a result we have agreed to open an initial line of communication with government to discuss the feasibility of an arrangement across our six authorities in response to the government’s call for authorities to suggest outline plans for potential county deals.”

All six Berkshire unitaries were created in 1998. 

Some have struggled to remain financially stable. Slough, with 164,000 residents, was forced in July to issue a section 114 notice after finding itself unable to balance its books.

And Windsor & Maidenhead, with 151,000 residents, also came close to bankruptcy last year.  They were saved from it with part of the £1.6bn pandemic bailout from government.

Individual councils’ financial woes are not currently being discussed as part of the devolution conversations.