How would you reform and redraw UK local government?

[YL]

I'm not sure that a one size fits all unitary approach is that good an idea.  In sparsely populated rural areas it could make "local" government feel very remote.  (I sometimes wonder how well the Highland unitary works, given that its main centre in Inverness is a very long way away from some parts of it.)  You could go for smaller population unitaries in those areas, I suppose.

I'd like to find a way of getting Leeds and Bradford council areas to have fewer areas which aren't really part of the cities.  If you're looking at something like the current model, the Airedale and Wharfedale towns currently in the city council areas ought to have enough population to form a district of their own, while on the south side Morley could be combined with parts of Kirklees to form a "Heavy Woollen District" district, leaving a cut down Kirklees consisting of Huddersfield and the areas to the south and west.  Wetherby could go with either Selby or Harrogate.

On the other hand some other cities, like Manchester and Leicester, have very tightly drawn boundaries and could do with being expanded.