I basically agree with the crux of this. My own suggestion is here, which is a return to county councils, undoing devolution deals and the devolved administrations, and giving all counties a hereditary noble to oversee them and hold them to account.
The problem is, or a great deal of the problem is, layers upon layers of paperwork and red tape, local government being so different everywhere across the country that no one knows who is responsible for what, and yes, there being too much government.
Generally, I would see large cities made counties unto themselves, and medium-sized cities be given devolution within a county (so police, refuse, fire etc. is administered at the county-level, and the rest at the viscounty-level).
I, personally, don’t view parish councils as local government but more of a community organisation. The vast majority of parish councillors are unopposed and party politics doesn’t really play much into parish elections. As such, I don’t know if abolition makes sense, if we should keep them as is, or maybe even transform them into charitable neighbourhood associations.
