The government has announced further delays to nine of 14 major council mergers, with only five now going ahead.
Proposals for 14 regions to undergo mergers of smaller councils to form larger unitary authorities was put on hold by Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner last month, following concerns around legal challenges.
Local Government Minister Jim McMahon has told MPs the review had found the government’s decision-making to be “robust”, but nine areas have now been withdrawn for further review.
Only five of the original 14 regions will be taken forward, after three more weeks of consultation. Shadow local government secretary Katie Lam condemned the latest news as “a farce”.
Mergers will continue to progress in East Sussex, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
But the government is seeking “legal clarity” in the remaining nine areas, which are: Derbyshire, Devon, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and Staffordshire.
In a Commons statement, McMahon said the government was “withdrawing the decisions announced in July” for those nine areas.
“I want to be absolutely clear that this is not a reflection of the work underpinning those proposals,” he added.
The review will now focus on the nine areas where current plans have been withdrawn for further review, as well as four areas where plans were withdrawn in September, in Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.
Two further areas, Cambridgeshire and West Sussex, are still waiting for merger plans to be agreed, totalling 15 regions where local government reorganisation plans remain undecided.
McMahon said: “We will move faster where we can, and some of the remaining areas may receive an outcome decision before others.
“I commit to coming back to the House with updates for another set of areas by Christmas, and every area will have an outcome by early next year.”
Reconfirming local elections in May 2027 would go ahead on existing council boundaries, he announced plans for elections to shadow councils, set to run for a year before taking over from old authorities, will now be held in May 2028.
Responding, Lam set out how the reorganisation had been beset by delays over the past two-and-a-half years.
“From start to finish this government’s approach to local government reorganisation has been nothing short of a farce,” she told MPs.
She added: “Naturally the taxpayer was left to pick up the tab for all of these delays – a bill which runs into the tens of millions of pounds.”
Local Government Association chair Eamonn O’Brien called for a re-set of relations between the government and local councils across the country.
He said: “While today’s announcement provides some certainty for some areas, many councils remain frustrated by the situation they have been placed in.
“All councils affected need urgent clarity on next steps and how costs already incurred will be met.
“There needs to be a reset in the relationship between government and councils on local government reorganisation, with local government fully engaged in shaping decisions from the outset.”
