A merger with Slough could mean a huge council tax increase for residents of Windsor and Maidenhead, the Royal Borough’s council leader has warned.
A possible shakeup of local government has raised the prospect of Slough Borough Council, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead combining into one.
But Windsor and Maidenhead council leader Simon Werner said this would mean a big council tax hike and a ‘massive loss of control for our residents’.
He said: “The most likely councils that we could be merged with are obviously Slough with its even bigger financial problems and its massive council tax.
“Merging with Slough will mean council tax increasing by up to 40% in the borough.”
He added: “A merger with Reading I’ve been told could see increases of up to 45%.
“Along with both those options is a massive loss of control for our residents of what goes on in the borough.
“Any mergers will mean big increases in council tax way over 25% as ours continues to be the lowest in the country outside London.”
The government plans to reorganise councils in England in a move it says is aimed at handing them more powers.
In areas where district councils already operate beneath a county council, such as Surrey, these are being asked to combine into a larger unitary authority.
Slough and the Royal Borough are both already unitary authorities and haven’t been asked to merge.
But the government wants councils at this level to cover larger populations – and says they could also be asked to merge ‘where there is evidence of failure’.
Cllr Werner said this meant that ‘it is possible’ that the government might ask the Royal Borough to consider merging with a neighbouring council.
Slough Borough Council has also said it is exploring a range of possibilities that include a merger with the Royal Borough and possibly Bracknell Forest too. It has also floated the idea of a merger with a west London borough such as Hillingdon.
Cllr Werner said: “As a unitary council we have not been asked by the government.
“However as a small unitary of under 500,000 residents it is possible we will be impacted although we have not yet received a formal letter from the government.”
Under the reform, councils are also being asked to work together under region-wide strategic authorities.
These new authorities should each have a combined population of 1.5 million or more and would be responsible for large-scale transport, infrastructure and development.
Council leaders in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire have held early discussions about the possibility of forming an authority for the Thames Valley.
Cllr Werner was speaking at a meeting of Roual Borough leaders on Wednesday, 26 February.
