North Warwickshire Borough Council’s Leader has reacted with fury to the Government’s decision to pause Local Government Reorganisation.
North Warwickshire Borough Council's Leader has reacted with fury to the Government's announcement that the reorganisation of Councils in Warwickshire is to be 'paused' for an unspecified amount of time. The Government announced in 2024 that it would abolish all Borough, District and County Councils in England, replacing them with a number of Unitary Councils bringing together all services the previous 'two tiers' of Councils currently provide.
All Councils have spent considerable time and taxpayers’ money since then developing proposals for those unitary Councils, including consulting the public on their views. In July the Government announced that there would be two Councils in Warwickshire, North and South, with the North Warwickshire Council taking in Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rugby as well as the Borough of North Warwickshire. Officers and Members had started work on bringing together services into the two Councils and splitting the functions of Warwickshire County Council, as well as starting to plan for elections to the new Councils which were due to take place in May next year.
The Government's announcement this week means those elections will not now go ahead, and instead North Warwickshire Borough Council will hold elections in May, despite it currently being uncertain as to whether those Councillors will serve more than two years.
Speaking after the announcement, Councillor David Wright, Leader of North Warwickshire Borough Council said:
"I am appalled at the decision the Government has made this week on Local Government Reorganisation, which has come about mainly due to the Government not being sure that it made the decisions we got in July in a proper and lawful manner.
We need to remember that the Government gave no notice in 2024 of its intention to abolish local Councils and when we consulted residents in North Warwickshire, the majority of people did not want this change. Despite this we have worked tirelessly with the other Councils in Warwickshire to design completely new Councils at the request of the Government.
To be told that this work might now be wasted is extremely disappointing - for our residents and business who need certainty, for Councillors who need to know if their work is to continue and for our staff who have been working in very uncertain conditions for a number of years now. Like a number of Councils we have seen some of our best staff start to look for work elsewhere due to the uncertainty.
We now face a further unknown period where we cannot work on projects that are vital to our area whilst the Government reviews whether it made the decisions properly or wants to change its mind altogether. I will be writing to our MPs suggesting they demand the Government sort this mess out as quickly as possible."
The Government has said it will try to provide clarity as soon as it can and will set out the next steps as 'clearly and as early as it can'.