Residents, businesses and community organisations across Staffordshire have been encouraged to share their views on the way their councils are run in the future, as the Government deadline to abolish the current system approaches.
The Government is holding a statutory consultation on local government reorganisation, which will affect services from bins to bridges and from safer streets to social care.
Councils support daily life across the county and the way local government works in the area will change as part of national proposals to “simplify” council structures, a change that will see Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and Staffordshire County Council abolished and a new council – a so-called single-tier authority – replace them.
Biddulph Town Council is not affected in the change. Under local government reorganisation, Staffordshire’s county, city, district and borough councils will be replaced with a smaller number of new unitary councils delivering all council services in a given area.
What this will look like will be decided by the Government following consideration of five proposals, which either split the county north-south or east-west, and offer variations in where the new council boundaries run.
No council supports the move. County councillors, while obliged to offer an option to the Government, are now urging people to sign a petition against reorganisation.
County Coun Martin Murray, chair of the Staffordshire Leaders Board, said: “Local government reorganisation will shape how all local council services will be delivered across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent for decades to come.
“This consultation is a vital opportunity for residents, businesses and partners to have their say and help inform the Government’s decision.”
Coun Jane Ashworth, vice-chair of the board, added: “There are several proposals under consideration, and each would have different implications for different communities. I would strongly encourage people to take time to read the information and share their views through the consultation.”
No immediate changes will be made to council services. The Government is expected to make a decision on local government reorganisation in Staffordshire this summer.
Existing councils will continue to deliver services as normal, with new unitary councils not expected to be in place until April 2028 at the earliest.
Plans
In December 2024, the Government published a document called the “English Devolution White Paper”. Part of this document set out plans to reorganise the way local councils work.
The Government said it aimed to simplify the way local government works by creating unitary councils. These will be single councils responsible for all local government services within a particular area, as happens over the border in Cheshire East. The Government said the change would ensure that councils were a suitable size to be “efficient and effective”.
In Staffordshire, there is Staffordshire County Council, which covers the whole of Staffordshire; eight district and borough councils, including Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and Newcastle Under-Lyme Borough Council, a unitary council – Stoke-on-Trent City Council, which nobody wants as it has debt and a low council tax base, and 180 town or parish councils, including Biddulph.
Proposals on the table are two unitary councils north and south using existing district and borough boundaries, with the Moorlands joining Stoke and Newcastle; two unitary councils, north and south with new boundaries, and the Moorlands in with Stoke, Newcastle, part of Stone and part of Uttoxeter; two unitary councils east and west, with the Moorlands in a new council with East Staffs and Lichfield, and three unitary councils, which also sees the Moorlands merging with Stoke and Newcastle.
The consultation runs until Thursday, 26th March.
People can find out more about the proposals and how to submit their views online at staffordshirestokelgr.org.uk.
