EFFORTS to bring about a new council in Somerset are broadly on course – despite Brexit continuing to delay progress on some of the details.

Taunton Deane Borough Council and West Somerset Council will both be replaced by Somerset West and Taunton Council on April 1, 2019, ahead of the local elections on May 2.

The council is currently operating as a ‘shadow authority’, with councillors and officers overseeing the transition of powers ahead of these crucial dates.

This transition is largely on time and going according to plan – but several issues still need to be resolved with less than six months to go.

A report on the progress made thus far and the remaining work to be done was published ahead of a shadow full council meeting in Taunton on Monday evening (October 15).

Paul Harding, one of the officers leading the transition, confirmed in his report that the authority was still waiting on three “consequential orders” from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

These orders will lay out the transfer of financial responsibilities and existing assets, as well as confirming the electoral boundaries for the new council.

The committee was informed in September the process had been “held up by Brexit”, with the MHCLG not being able to access sufficient lawyers to deal with the issue in a timely fashion.

Mr Harding predicted these orders were now expected to be completed by the end of December.

He added good progress was being made regarding the transfer of staff over to the new authority, and stated that a new chief executive would be in place in November.

Your County Gazette reported on October 10 current chief executive Penny James would be taking redundancy and would therefore not be in the running to head up the new council.

Elements of the council’s new constitution will be approved by the time the first budget is set in February, while some of the fine details (including the level of councillor allowances) won’t be completed until April.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) will publish its final recommendations for the new council’s ward boundaries on October 23.

A wide variety of administrative functions – such as staff payroll and transferring various licences – are currently under way, with the council’s new logo expected to make its first appearance at Deane House and West Somerset House by March.

Finally, the two council’s separate planning portals (where information on planning applications is stored and made available to the public) will be brought together before Christmas.

Mr Harding said it would not necessary for the new council to create a new Local Plan – a document identifying housing and employment needs in the area, and identifying sites which could meet that need.

He said: “Plans which refer to a particular geographic location would continue to be valid after April 1  since the geographic areas remain even though the councils which created these plans will be dissolved.

“The plan prepared by the current councils will be treated as if prepared and published by the successor council, and will apply for the whole or such part of its area as corresponds to the area to which the particular plan relates.

“[This will last] until the date on which the successor council publishes a plan which extends to the whole of its area.”