Leaders frustrated by council shake-up delays

Political leaders have expressed frustration after a planned major shake-up of local government was pushed back.

Lancashire had been set to undergo local government reorganisation, which would have seen the county council and 14 district councils and unitary authorities replaced with four new unitaries.

But the planned reforms - which would have impacted 14 areas across England - were put on hold by the government in September.

Local Government Minister Jim McMahon confirmed that only five of the original proposals would go ahead as planned - Lancashire not being one of them.

In a letter to leaders in the nine areas where the plans have been withdrawn, McMahon said the decision was "not a reflection of the quality of the proposals submitted by councils in your area, but rather the need to give each decision of such significance the careful consideration it deserves".

He added: "All options and proposals in your area will remain under consideration as part of the review."

It is expected that more details will be made public before Christmas and a new decision about what to do next will be made in 2027.

Existing councils in Lancashire had been expecting to be scrapped next year but will now hold elections in May.

The leader of South Ribble Council, Labour's Matthew Tomlinson, said: "The uncertainty that this is causing - for our staff, for councillors and elected officials and for our residents too - is not helpful and it doesn't look great on the government."

The Independent leader of Burnley Council, Afrasiab Anwar, said the government had "made an absolute mess of this".

He added: "What that means is all options are now back on the table, there is an option here to look at the decision again and I think it's best to get two authorities for the Pennines."

Leader of Wyre Council, Conservative Michael Vincent said: "They have done everything they can to undermine local government, they've backtracked and changed their minds that it's difficult to take it seriously."

"It's a shambles," Caroline Jackson, Green leader of Lancaster City Council, said: "And we're beginning to think we're being treated with contempt in local government, what are we going to do next, yet more delays?"

Reform UK deputy leader of Lancashire County Council, Simon Evans, said: "It's a never-ending can that's being kicked down the line, we're no clearer, we still haven't got the detail, we're being asked to sign up to something that we don't actually know how or when it's going to work."

"It feels like we're still in that period of the unknown," Chorley Council's deputy leader, Labour's Peter Wilson, said.

"We were hoping for some real clarity and sense of direction but it appears that we have to continue to wait."

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