Plans to replace Worcestershire’s existing councils with two new unitary authorities have been thrown into uncertainty after the Government launched an internal review of local government reorganisation decisions following legal advice.
The review includes Worcestershire, where ministers announced in July that the existing county, city, borough and district councils would be abolished and replaced by two new authorities, North Worcestershire Council and South Worcestershire Council.
Under the timetable announced following that decision, elections to the new shadow councils were expected to be held in May 2027, before the new authorities formally took responsibility for services on April 1, 2028.
However, Government briefing information seen by this newspaper says Worcestershire will now be among 14 areas whose reorganisation decisions are to form part of an internal review.
The development follows legal concerns surrounding earlier reorganisation decisions in Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.
According to the Government briefing, the Secretary of State has considered legal advice and decided to withdraw the decisions previously announced for those four areas.
The briefing states that the Government’s decisions covering a further 14 areas, including Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, Gloucestershire, Derbyshire and Derby and several other parts of England, will now also form part of the internal review.
No decision had yet been taken on Cambridgeshire and Peterborough or West Sussex, and these areas are also expected to be considered as part of the wider exercise.
Surrey will not be included, as legislation establishing its new unitary authorities has already been made and elections have taken place.
The development raises fresh questions over the timetable for Worcestershire’s biggest local government restructuring in decades.
The Government announced on July 16 that Worcestershire County Council, Redditch Borough Council, Bromsgrove District Council, Wyre Forest District Council, Worcester City Council, Wychavon District Council and Malvern Hills District Council would eventually cease to exist.
They were to be replaced by North Worcestershire Council, covering Redditch, Bromsgrove and Wyre Forest, and South Worcestershire Council, covering Worcester, Wychavon and Malvern Hills.
At the time, the seven council leaders issued a joint statement saying the Government’s decision had provided a “clear direction” and allowed work to begin on the transition.
Preparatory work was expected to continue throughout 2026 and early 2027, followed by elections in May 2027 to establish shadow councils. Those bodies would then oversee preparations before formally becoming the new unitary authorities in April 2028.
It is not yet clear what effect the Government’s latest review will have on that timetable.
A local government source described the situation as a “complete farce” and predicted that the planned May 2027 elections to the new Worcestershire authorities could ultimately be cancelled.
However, no decision to cancel or postpone those elections has been announced and the outcome of the Government’s review is not yet known.
The legal difficulties surrounding the wider reorganisation programme have been developing for several months.
Essex County Council announced in June that it intended to pursue a judicial review of the Government’s decision over the structure of new councils in the county.
Documents disclosed during the dispute showed that senior officials had recommended a different option from the one ultimately selected by ministers. Essex County Council said officials had raised concerns about the financial robustness of the chosen model and its implications for public services.
The Government has previously denied that party political considerations influenced its decisions.
Concerns about the decision-making process were raised again in Parliament last week, when ministers were asked to reconsider aspects of the reorganisation programme following reports that advice from officials and lawyers had been overruled.
MP welcomes pause, but says damage already done
Among those to raise the issue in the Commons was Nigel Huddleston, the Conservative MP for Droitwich and Evesham, who has consistently opposed plans to abolish Worcestershire’s current two-tier system of local government.
Speaking after the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, confirmed to MPs that the Worcestershire proposals had been paused pending review, Mr Huddleston said:
“I’m glad the Honourable Lady has now abandoned her decision, or at least paused her decision, to destroy the well-run, low-tax, Conservative-controlled Wychavon District Council. But is she aware of the chaos and cost she has caused to councils in Worcestershire and across the country? She is giving very strong vibes that she does not know what she’s doing, is that because she does not know what she is doing?”
Mr Huddleston, who was forced by Whitehall to draw up proposals for new unitary authorities before the two-unitary model was put forward, argued that the uncertainty had already taken a toll locally, even before the review was announced. He said:
“Whilst I welcome the Government’s decision to pause their ill thought through plans, the chaos and indecision have already caused significant uncertainty across my constituency.
“Councils have spent time and money unnecessary; strategic planning and investment decisions have been disrupted and in Worcestershire we have lost some good Council Officers because of the uncertainty.”
He also linked the reorganisation row to wider concerns about how rural areas are treated by the Government, adding:
“More broadly, this raises serious questions about the Government’s approach to rural areas. Local government reorganisation was imposed on Worcestershire from the top down, without popular support locally. Meanwhile, housing targets in Wychavon have nearly doubled and the Government has stripped Wychavon of its decision-making powers over major planning applications.
“I will continue to stand up for my constituency and for rural communities.”
Worcestershire was among 14 areas where the Government announced reorganisation decisions in July. The other areas now listed for the internal review are Derby and Derbyshire, Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, East Sussex and Brighton, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Kent and Medway, Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent and Warwickshire.
Until the review is completed, Worcestershire’s existing councils remain in place and continue to be responsible for their current services.
The Government’s previously published position remains that the two new Worcestershire unitary authorities are intended to take over from April 2028, but the latest intervention means the route to reaching that point is now subject to fresh scrutiny.
