'Lives have to come first' - Daventry district council leader on dealing with coronavirus, grants and new unitary

Councillor Richard Auger, who was named the new and Conservative leader of the council in November, has had something of a baptism of fire in the new role – with the unitary reorganisation currently proceeding, and then the coronavirus pandemic taking grip in March.

And the former police commander says the authority is doing everything it can to continue as usual during the health crisis, and speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service said that although the pandemic may feasibly still alter the timeline of local government reorganisation, they will still be working towards an April 2021 deadline to start the new West Northamptonshire Council.

He said: “I think it [coronavirus] very much might change the deadline. There’s no way that any of the district or borough leaders will agree to go to unitary unless we are safe and legal, and if we can’t do the crucial work then there’s no way it would happen.

“That doesn’t mean we are not working towards next year, but the reality is that if this goes on any longer or there’s a second lockdown there are no guarantees. I think the Government has been very clear on that too and I think it would be a great shame, but we have to put peoples’ lives first. I don’t think there’s any leader of any political colour or persuasion that would put politics before that.”

The district council has also been handling grant payments to local businesses following the initial allocation of £15.4 million to the authority from the Government. The latest figures show that DDC has paid out £12.25 million of that, although the figure (as of May 3) is due to be updated soon.

Speaking about the small number of grants the council hasn’t processed yet, Councillor Auger said: “I think there are a few appeals in the pipeline, but there has been some issues with the differering of regulations coming through from the Government, and as the criteria has been implemented there have been some cases that have fallen through the cracks. So the Government is reissuing more guidelines so criteria can be extended and hopefully by the end of the week we will have the new regulations.”

And speaking about the challenge being a political leader has posed during the COVID-19 outbreak, he added: “I was a police commander so I have had that sort of strategic leadership and I have managed critical incidents, so I have been in the eye of storm before. What’s different in a political sense is that you’re not hands on. Normally I would be doing or intervening, whereas at the moment I’m here to ensure that the public voice and the voice of members is represented in some form.”