David Miliband has said that it is up to Councils to come up with their preferred options for local government. In West Lancashire we can look forward to a difficult debate on what is best for the different areas of the district.

When the boundaries were considered last time there was a backlash against the possibility of the district being split between Sefton and Wigan. This led to the “out of lancs, no thanks” campaign amongst others. Labour had two preferred options, a South Lancashire authority taking in West Lancs, South Ribble, Preston and Chorley; and the split. There were strong arguments for the split – in particular Skelmersdale moving into an area that had more urban experience, rather than the current setup where the council is more interested in the rural areas and market towns.

The likelihood is that the Tories will run a strong “hands off west lancs” campaign, calling for the District to be a unitary authority in it’s own right, and ignore a lot of the good that the government is saying about devolution down to communities and stronger, more strategic, authorities.

How can such a short-termist view be countered? First, we’re not stuck with the boundary committee’s proposals this time, which gives us a clean sheet to come up with something much better for the people of West Lancs. Secondly, whatever we come up with must improve service delivery, accountability and local leadership – and it has to be easy to demonstrate the advantages. Finally, we must then go out and win the arguments.