Council chiefs are expecting a final decision on local government reorganisation (LGR) in Staffordshire within the next two months.
All 10 principal councils in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire will be abolished and replaced with new unitary authorities as part of a national shift away from two-tier local government.
Earlier this year the Government carried out a public consultation on five options for the new unitaries, which were proposed by the existing councils (writes local democracy reporter Phil Corrigan).
Stoke-on-Trent City Council leader Coun Jane Ashworth told a Cabinet meeting that she expected the Government to announce the final decision before the House of Commons recess on 16th July.
She gave the update on LGR as she introduced a report on the council’s new operating plan for the period 2026 to 2028.
Coun Ashworth said it was likely that the model chosen by Government would include a single unitary covering the North Staffordshire area.
Other options would see an east-west split, or Newcastle remaining separate to the rest of North Staffordshire.
Coun Ashworth said: “We expect to see – and this will be confirmed before the summer Parliamentary recess – clarity on the way forward for local government reorganisation in Staffordshire.
“Exactly what that will look like we won’t know until the Government announcement. But I think we’re confident that there will be some form of North Staffordshire unitary authority, where we will have a far better chance of having more organised and rational planning on matters to do with transport, economic development, skills and education.
“This will be a year of transition, and everything else we talk about has to be seen in that context.”
Coun Ashworth said she also expected the Government to announce the creation of a foundational strategic authority for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, which will see the city and county council working together on strategic issues, as the first step towards a Greater Manchester-style mayoralty.
According to its latest forward plan, the Cabinet will receive a report on both LGR and the foundational strategic authority at some point between 16th June and 13th October.
Under the Government’s timetable, elections to the shadow unitary authorities will take place next year, with the new councils taking over in 2028.
But the idea of a North Staffordshire authority and LGR as a whole remains controversial subjects in Staffordshire, and critics have questioned whether such a big change can be accomplished in just two years.
Enhanced
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, has advanced an “enhanced” North Staffordshire super council as its favoured option.
Cabinet members at the Moorlands said their preferred solution to local government reorganisation would be the best option for the north of the county.
Four other councils are proposing a north-south split, which would see the creation of a North Staffordshire unitary taking in Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle and the Moorlands, along with a Southern and Mid-Staffordshire unitary covering the rest of the county.
The model favoured by Staffordshire Moorlands would see a North Staffordshire unitary expanded with the addition of Stone and Uttoxeter.
Leaders at the Labour-run district council say this proposal would address some of the major issues with the North Staffordshire proposal, including its smaller population, council tax base and economic growth potential when compared with the south.
Their enhanced North Staffordshire unitary would have a population of 536,171, compared to 598,128 in the south, and would also cover the whole of the A50 corridor in Staffordshire – one of the county’s key growth areas.
Cabinet members voted to formally adopt the proposal for LGR, which had to be submitted to Government in November.
Local council services in Staffordshire are currently split between the county council and eight districts, except in Stoke-on-Trent which has a single unitary council.
Biddulph’s Coun Nigel Yates, Cabinet member of climate change and the environment, said that having one council in charge of all services in North Staffordshire would allow for a “coherent” economic strategy for the area, with “no more conflicting policies, no more development that outpaces infrastructure”.
He said: “There is no doubt that North Staffordshire is being held back by a fragmented system of local government that divides transport responsibilities from planning responsibilities and splits major decisions across multiple councils.
“Because of that we are failing to deliver a sustainable transport system that is required for the Moorlands.”
The enhanced North Staffordshire model was supported by a majority of elected members at a council assembly, although Conservative councillors voted against the plans.
Reform UK-led Staffordshire County Council voted to support two unitary authorities covering the east and the west.
