Historic Winchester and Canterbury could lose their city status as a result of Angela Rayner's council shake-up as officials warn of 'complex and unnecessary' process ahead

Historic places across England risk losing their prized status as cities as a result of a controversial shake-up by Angela Rayner.Even the likes of ancient Winchester and Canterbury must now go through a time-consuming and costly process to retain their titles – which could even add to council tax bills.Southend-on-Sea in Essex, which was only granted city status four years ago in tribute to its murdered MP Sir David Amess, is also threatened by the Communities Secretary’s reforms.They are in danger of losing the prestigious city status awarded by monarchs because the councils that run them are being abolished as part of Ms Rayner’s Local Government Reorganisation, which will create large single authorities across England in the face of opposition from council leaders.Staff are now scrambling to establish bodies called charter trustees in order to safeguard their centuries-old titles, mayors and coats of arms before the new town halls are created in 2028, with households facing an extra precept on council tax bills to cover the costs.Last night Shadow Housing Minister Gareth Bacon said: ‘This is Labour’s constitutional wrecking ball. Angela Rayner is forcing places that have been boroughs and cities for centuries through Royal Charters to go through a costly and lengthy process to retain that status. This is bad news for local people, and bad news for the taxpayers forced to cover the bill.‘Places that recently got city status, like Southend, also face having to fight for their identity. And there is no good reason for it.’ Communities Secretary pictured at the new No 10 north office in Manchester last month He added in a warning to Andy Burnham: ‘Once again the reality of Labour’s devolution programme has been exposed: it isn’t about empowering local communities at all, but rather about imposing the Government’s will from above.’One of the most historic places at risk is Winchester, an important urban centre since Roman times and the capital of Alfred the Great’s Anglo-Saxon kingdom.Its city council is set to be merged into a new Mid Hampshire council and leaders are currently trying to protect its status as well as its mayoralty and coat of arms.They do not want Winchester to suffer the same fate as Rochester in Kent, which in 1998 lost the city status it had been granted by Henry III in 1227 because of a blunder by officials - and never got it back.Cllr Martin Tod, Leader of Winchester City Council, admitted: ‘Our situation is quite complicated because the council's boundaries are being changed by Local Government Reorganisation. There are also rules about how charter trustees work in areas with town and parish councils that are making the way forward less straightforward.‘As things stand, we don't know whether the Government has found a way to sort this out. We also don't know the cost or time involved.’In Canterbury, home to England’s oldest cathedral, the city council is being incorporated into an East Kent unitary authority.Officials there are also trying to work out how to preserve the city status it has held ‘since time immemorial’, as well as its Lord Mayor and Sheriff, according to a report from a council meeting last month. Winchester, once the capital of Alfred the Great's Anglo-Saxon kingdom, may lose city status‘Subject to the clarification needed about the City’s boundaries, in Canterbury the creation of either a town council or charter trustees would provide to safeguard the civic titles associated with the city, including the Lord Mayor and Sheriff, and potentially provide a home for the designation of city status if a new alternative boundary was required,’ the document stated.However the introduction of charter trustees to ‘preserve civic identity and ceremonial continuity’ will likely mean a ‘modest’ annual precept on council tax bills of between £2 and £18 per household.In Southend-on-Sea, a recent report by council officers warned that without action ‘the City status and other Charters awarded to the former Borough of Southend will fall away and cannot be regained’.Unless a new parish or charter trustee is set up to hold the Letters Patent from the monarch creating the city and ceremonial property, ‘the place or body to which they were granted will not exist and we will have no authority to allocate the honours and status’.Stoke-on-Trent, made a city by George V in 1925, is urging the Government to preserve its status by establishing charter trustees in the initial Structural Changes Order (SCO) that will abolish its existing council, rather than in a later supplement.‘Not to put legal mechanisms in place prior to the abolition of Stoke-on-Trent City Council would likely mean the loss of Stoke-on-Trent's city status,’ a report last month warned.‘It is not unknown for this to occur, with other settlements having lost their city status in the process of Local Government Reorganisation where this has not been done.’The council added: 'Legal precedents elsewhere in England indicate that a failure to enshrine both ceremonial institutions within the SCO legislation could lead to their temporary loss and involve a complex and unnecessary bureaucratic undertaking to get them reinstated following implementation of the new governance arrangements.' A spokesman for Ms Rayner’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: ‘We recognise the pride, history and identity that sits behind our cities which is why we will work with areas to make sure city status is preserved following reorganisation.’