Nine of 14 Planned Council Mergers Withdrawn for Review

The government has withdrawn nine of its 14 planned council mergers in England for further review. Only five will now go ahead, after three more weeks of consultation.

Local Government Minister Jim McMahon announced the change in a Commons statement. He said the review had found the government's decision-making to be "robust", but that ministers are seeking "legal clarity" in nine areas. They are Derbyshire, Devon, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire.

McMahon said the government was "withdrawing the decisions announced in July" for those areas. "This is not a reflection of the work underpinning those proposals," he added.

Where mergers continue

Smaller councils will still be combined into larger unitary authorities in East Sussex, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

The proposals covered 14 regions. Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner put them on hold last month because of concerns about legal challenges. Plans were withdrawn in September for four more areas: Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The review now covers those four and the nine named above.

Cambridgeshire and West Sussex are still waiting for merger plans to be agreed. In all, 15 regions have no decision.

Elections and reaction

Local elections in May 2027 will go ahead on existing council boundaries. Elections to shadow councils, which would run for a year before taking over from the old authorities, will now be held in May 2028.

McMahon said some of the remaining areas may receive an outcome before others. He promised to return to the House with updates for another set of areas by Christmas, and said every area will have an outcome by early next year.

Shadow local government secretary Katie Lam called the government's approach "nothing short of a farce". She said delays over two and a half years had left taxpayers with a bill running into tens of millions of pounds.

Eamonn O'Brien, chair of the Local Government Association, said the announcement gives certainty to some areas, but many councils remain frustrated. He said affected councils need urgent clarity on next steps and on how costs already incurred will be met, and called for a reset in relations between government and councils.

Source: BBC News