Derbyshire County Council criticises Government’s costly decision to ‘pause’ LGR plans for the county

The Derbyshire LGR decision map. Image from One Derbyshire Two Councils.

Derbyshire County County Council’s Reform UK administration has accused Government ministers of a U-turn after Local Government Reorganisation plans for the county and 13 other areas nationwide have been paused throwing years of costly preparation into doubt.

Councils have been preparing for LGR with plans for the introduction of larger unitary councils between 2027 and 2028 so Derbyshire County Council and the county’s eight borough and district councils and Derby City Council could be replaced with two unitary councils – a Derbyshire North Council and a Derbyshire South Council.

But Derbyshire County Council stated that ministers confirmed Derbyshire and Derby are among 14 areas nationally where reorganisation decisions, made in July, are being reviewed after the Reform UK administration claims the Government received new legal advice and faced the threat of judicial reviews from councils across the country.

The county council administration also claims that Derbyshire’s county council, the county’s eight district and borough councils and Derby City Council are already on course to spend up to £66m and potentially £81m amidst preparations that had included elections to its two new proposed unitary authorities in May, 2027, during a transition period before the new authorities were to take responsibility for local services from April 1st, 2028.

County Council Leader, Cllr Alan Graves, said: “Derbyshire’s ten councils have already set aside more than £16m this year for a scheme the Government cannot even manage to finish. This is real money. It should be fixing our roads and supporting vulnerable children, not funding Whitehall’s indecision.

“We said all along that this reorganisation was being rushed and mismanaged from the top down. Today’s pause proves it. Our staff, our residents and our councils deserve a straight answer, not another round of guessing games.

“Derbyshire cannot keep paying the price for Labour’s dithering. Reform UK will keep holding this Government to account until residents get the clarity and the value for money they deserve.”

Reform UK claims that pausing the LGR plans for Derbyshire and 13 others amounts to a U-turn by ministers and argues that LGR has been rushed and chaotic and has been driven by Whitehall and not local people.

Plans for LGR in four other areas including Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk have been withdrawn altogether after Reform Uk says huge sums of money have already been committed to the expected changes.

Derbyshire County Council claims the county’s ten key councils are already on course to spend up to £66m and potentially £81m in the worst case and more than £16m has already been set aside this year for redundancy and preparation costs including over £26m earmarked for staff exits and £12m for new computer systems.

A further £48m is also due for LGR for Derbyshire, according to Derbyshire County Council, for the original planned launch in April, 2028, and following planned elections in May, 2027.

The county council claims timelines have already slipped once and now the whole decision is on hold with no date given for when or even if it will be confirmed.

Reform UK is calling on the Government to halt further spending on LGR until it can set out a lawful, workable and lasting plan, and properly consult Derbyshire’s councils and residents on what happens next.

It has criticised the way LGR has been imposed on Derbyshire with warnings that a rushed, top-down process risks this kind of legal and financial situation.

Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage said: “Reform UK not only argued that this Government’s plans for Local Government Reorganisation were an unmitigated disaster, but we once again put our money where our mouth is.

“Earlier this year we took on the Government and forced them to give the vote back to millions of people after Labour tried to cancel democracy. Now, thanks to our judicial reviews in affected Reform-led councils, the Government has backed down on their plans yet again.

“Only Reform had the backbone to stand up to these reckless plans. This is yet another embarrassing defeat for Labour. Only Reform backs real democracy.”

Reform UK has criticised the way LGR has been imposed on Derbyshire with warnings that a rushed, top-down process risks this kind of legal and financial situation.

Jim McMahon, Minister for Local Government, Devolution and Regional Growth, stated in a letter to council leaders: “We set out in the Cabinet Statement on Rewiring the State that local government structures are key to our devolution ambitions and filling the map. Effective and sustainable local government is vital to meeting our ambitions.

“However, the government has also listened to representations about the approach and pace of reorganisation.

“Those relate both to the specific decisions announced in March and July and to the scale and pace of the programme more broadly.

“While we recognise there will always be a wide range of divergent views on the structure of councils, and so achieving perfect consensus will never be possible, now is the time to pause and reflect. It is important that this is done right.”

Mr McMahon will head up a review to look at the programme as a whole and this will include reviewing the 14 LGR decisions, including for Derbyshire, originally confirmed in July.

He added: “I appreciate that this position will feel uncomfortable, but I believe it is right to consider these matters seriously and deeply given the significance of the decisions.

“I want to assure myself that this process is being done correctly and robustly. It will also afford the opportunity for the Devolution White Paper, which will set out our plans to rewire the state, to address the question of the role of local government in a devolved country.”

The Government has previously argued LGR will include elected mayors with more powers on planning and transport and that the changes will create savings, create greater efficiency, improve public services, and support economic growth.

But critics have been concerned about the loss of councils – with Derbyshire reduced from 447 councillors to 162 – the loss of local control with a risk of greater Government influence, the removal of local decision-making, tax increases, powers being taken away from communities and doubts about whether the plans will create savings.

The Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which is overseeing LGR, and Chesterfield Borough, NE Derbyshire District, Bolsover District, High Peak Borough, Derbyshire Dales and Amber Valley Borough councils, and the East Midlands Combined County Authority have all been asked for further responses to the decision to pause LGR plans for Derbyshire.