WIREDGOV

Aamenah Vaid, Research and Coordination Coordinator at GeoPlace. With Emma Webb – Business Solutions Analyst, Dorset Council – and Lucinda Handsford – NSG Uploader, Dorset Council.

In May 2018, Parliament agreed to combine six authorities in Dorset – Dorset County Council, East Dorset District, North Dorset District, Purbeck District, West Dorset District, Weymouth & Portland Borough – to become a single unitary authority. This is with the aim of creating efficiency savings of around over £108m over the next six years.

A unitary authority model is effectively where there is a single tier local authority which carries out all local government responsibilities within an area.

Weymouth, Dorset

The consolidation of the LLPGs and the LSGs of each district resulted in an increase in counts in the dataset for multiple factors. For example,

• the counts after the initial bid for Elementary Street Unit (ESU) were 34,644 after the combination of the districts the count for ESU were 35,008.
• the count for the Land and Property Identifier (LPI) prior to the creation of a unitary authority were 262,891 and after it was 226,519

Dorset were faced with the significant challenge of combining five established authority’s LLPGs and LSGs to create a functioning, centralised system, in addition to keeping current services ticking over smoothly.

With a dedicated team and a huge amount of perseverance in getting the job done, Dorset managed to consolidate their systems in time for their six-month deadline. Dorset’s merger was a success and demonstrates the future potential of unitary authorities, with improved communication and planning, as well as the benefits of having a central reference point for public services.

Salterns Marina, Poole, Dorset

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