West Berkshire Faces Uncertain Future Amid Devolution Changes

No 10 North, a Manchester-based unit, will take local economic growth and devolution strategy from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and local economic policy from the Treasury. So what could that mean for West Berkshire?

West Berkshire sits in the bottom quartile for national deprivation and has lost out under funding formulas that move cash north. The council can now recoup just 13 pence in the pound from its own business rates after recent changes.

Newbury MP Lee Dillon has pushed for a rethink on how much the council can keep. Meanwhile, Mayor Andy Burnham has pledged a 20 per cent cut in business rates for pubs, clubs and music venues - which could help Newbury town centre.

Big northern projects such as the reshaped £45bn Northern Powerhouse Rail risk diverting national infrastructure funding and private investment away from the South East, squeezing the public purse and leaving local routes like the A34, A4 and the Great Western main line underfunded.

That political pivot to "levelling up" could also pull private capital and high-tech firms away from the Thames Valley, threatening West Berkshire's competitive edge as a tech and telecom hub.

But West Berkshire still hosts Vodafone's historic global HQ, a dense IoT and telecoms cluster, and sits close to Reading's tech firms such as Microsoft and Oracle. The Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston also anchors defence and engineering supply chains.

There could be opportunities to link with northern initiatives, for example the North East Digital Cluster Launchpad, if coordination is possible without losing local advantages.

The Government says No 10 North is being established "to ensure places are at the very heart of government strategy", and that the new body would be "the engine room of devolution and good growth in every postcode, across government and the wider economy".

Organisational changes will also create an Office for the Prime Minister & the Cabinet, which will "house No 10, No 10 North and teams within the Cabinet Office directly serving the prime minister and cabinet".

Locally, West Berkshire Council will be replaced by a new Ridgeway Council by April 2028. That merger adds administrative strain while the authority tries to plug serious financial gaps.

Most of the Manchesterist approach centres on elected mayors and new mayoral regions. Councils without mayors, like West Berkshire (soon Ridgeway), will keep their committee or leader-and-cabinet systems but must coordinate with regional plans to access devolved funding pots - raising questions about who wins and who loses out.

Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter