County council expected to submit proposals for shakeup of local government

The cabinet at Warwickshire Council are expected to approve the submission of plans for the creation of a proposed new unitary authority for Warwickshire tomorrow.

Big changes to local government are in the pipeline with a forthcoming Government white paper expected to say that unitary authorities are the future and two-tier authorities are out.

The meeting will see members decide on whether to approve the submission of a report, commissioned by the county council, which recommends the creation of one unitary covering the whole county. The county council would then look to begin consulting with the public on the proposal.

Warwickshire’s five district council are against such a plan and have commissioned their own report, which reaches the conclusion that the creation of two unitary authorities for the county would be better than the one the county council favours.

During last week’s full council meeting at Warwickshire County Council members agreed to the submission but also agreed that district councils should be asked to submit their own proposal at the same time.

However the districts have already indicated that they intend to consult with the public before submitting any case and that they intend to wait for the publication of the Government’s white paper.