Overhaul will see one authority run county

County councillors debated models to streamline local government

Just one council may run services in a county in the west of England in a bid to simplify local government and cut costs.

Councillors in Gloucestershire have been working on plans to merge the county's six district authorities with the county council as part of a government-imposed reorganisation.

At a meeting on Wednesday, county councillors debated the benefits of splitting the county into east and west compared to one single unitary authority.

While many have branded the shake-up undemocratic, councillors overwhelmingly voted for the unitary authority option.

The new structure is expected to save nearly £21m per year, with £164m in net savings over the next 10 years.

It maintains the current county-wide approach to delivering fire and rescue services, adult social care, children's social care and education services.

It aims to speed up decision making, cut out repeated work and provide better, more consistent services.

The second option would have seen two councils created - one for the east of the county made up of the current Cotswold district and boroughs of Cheltenham and Tewkesbury and one for the west, covering Gloucester, the Forest of Dean and Stroud.

Councillors criticised the government-imposed reorganisation as "undemocratic"

It would save just under £11m a year, with more than £55m saved in 10 years.

A total of 38 councillors voted in favour of one unitary authority, four for the two council option, while 10 abstained, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The unitary authority proposal will now be submitted to the government, and ministers will have the final say on whether it goes ahead.

A third option - nicknamed the "Gloucester doughnut" - would have seen the creation of a Greater Gloucester unitary council with another unitary council for the rest of the county, but was not debated.

Green councillor Chloe Turner said the changes would cut Gloucestershire's elected representatives from 295 to 110

Liberal Democrat council leader Lisa Spivey criticised the fact politicians in Whitehall would have the final say.

"I cannot help but observe this runs completely contrary to the very principle of local decision making," she said.

Green Party councillors warned there was no guarantee the shake-up would yield the projected savings, and said it was taking decision making out of the hands of distinct communities.

Chloe Turner said: "This proposal from the government will slash the elected representation for Gloucestershire from 295 to 110, when we already have among the highest resident to elected representative ratio in Europe."

"How on earth is this supportive of democracy?"

Elsewhere, Reform UK councillors echoed concerns the local government reorganisation was being pushed on the council and decried the lack of public consultation.

They said they would support the single unitary option which they believed was the "lesser of two evils".

Based on the government's current timetable, elections to the new council or councils would be in May 2027 with the new authority taking over from the current seven councils from April 2028.