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Across England the current two-tier local government system in many counties is set to be axed, with borough, district and county councils set to be replaced with unitary authorities. Existing authorities are required to submit business cases for proposed new councils to central Government by November 28. Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet is due to approve the authority’s business case at a meeting on Tuesday (November 4). While other councils in Staffordshire are proposing systems that would see separate northern and southern unitary authorities, the county council is putting forward a case for an east and west split. If approved by Government, this option would mean Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Moorlands, East Staffordshire, Lichfield and Tamworth would form a new East Staffordshire unitary, while Newcastle, Stafford, South Staffordshire and Cannock Chase would merge into West Staffordshire. A briefing for county councillors, presented at an extraordinary full meeting on Thursday (October 23), revealed eight options for re-organisation that had been considered. These included the current county council area becoming a unitary authority separate from Stoke-on-Trent – a proposal put forward by the previous Conservative administration in its interim plan earlier this year. Other options ranged from a single unitary authority covering Staffordshire and Stoke-on Trent to a model involving four unitary authorities, which would have seen Stoke-on-Trent remain separate and the county split into northern, eastern and southern councils, with East Staffordshire divided between the east and north. The “ideal scenario” was described as a three-unitary model, with Stoke-on-Trent staying in its current form and the eight district and borough areas divided into eastern and western authorities. But the briefing said: “Regrettably, the government are likely to dismiss (the option), as it will not support Stoke City Council’s financial challenges or meet the strict government guidelines imposed upon us. “We are therefore compelled to recommend a preference of a two-unitary East-West option. This option is the most balanced of the options we’ve modelled; it therefore gives both the new councils the best chance of success.” County councillors spent almost two hours considering local government reorganisation at Thursday’s meeting. And those who spoke, no matter their political party, were united in their objections to the move. Councillor Martin Murray, the authority’s deputy leader in the new Reform UK administration, said: “This new LGR (local government reorganisation) policy is 100% down to this Labour government. Prior to the (2024) General Election, not one candidate for Labour said we would devolve every part of England – there’s no public mandate for devolution. “It was just dropped upon us in December. All this plan does is tear up our historic boundaries and it makes no to little sense at all. “True devolution could be very beneficial to Staffordshire – this would give the whole of Staffordshire and the great city of Stoke-on-Trent greater control of our finances and would also give us a seat at the table. The real prize would be a genuine devolution, a shift of power and funding from Westminster to our great county. “But it’s not devolution, it doesn’t empower our area, reforming and giving us greater power. It’s a rushed, top-down reorganisation that risks tearing our communities apart and it will cost a small fortune, with little to no benefit for the people of Staffordshire.” Conservative opposition group leader Councillor Philip White said: “This will not do anything to deal with the problems around adult social care, children in care, special educational needs or fixing our roads. None of these things will be solved. “They’re doing it to us because it suits them to do it – it is not in our interests whatsoever. Regarding the proposal before us, I think we are in danger of walking into a trap of the Government’s making. “The proposal we have in front of us does not need to be submitted. And the thing that has really struck me around the chamber today is I’ve not heard anybody who has been able to make a positive case for this proposal in its own right. “By submitting this proposal it provides an opportunity for Government to accept it, and if we vote for this we’re creating a risk our legacy in this council is this east/west model which does not work for our residents. Can we agree that we will write to the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister, as a united council, demanding the withdrawal of LGR for Staffordshire?” Councillor Syed Hussain, the authority’s remaining Labour member, said: “My loyalty is to my residents who voted for me. I rise not in defiance, but in defence of local democracy, to say respectfully but firmly that I do not wish to see the establishment of a super-council. “In this chamber I opposed HS2, opposed the (changes to) the Winter Fuel Allowance. On this occasion I am more than happy to sign any letter if you want to send it to the Prime Minister, to say that we do not want the super-council.”
