Essex County Council's leader elect has written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government demanding an urgent meeting over local government reorganisation (LGR) in the county.
Cllr Peter Harris wrote to Steve Reed on 22 May and warned that the current reorganisation timeline, costs and risks to vital services – particularly social care – are ‘unsustainable’ and threaten the council's ability to protect its most vulnerable residents.
The intervention comes amid wider political turbulence following local elections that saw significant changes in council control across England.
Reform-controlled Essex County Council has begun legal proceedings against the Government over its LGR proposals, which Cllr Harris has described as ‘ill-thought, expensive, purely ideological in nature’.
To learn more about LGR, check out Local Government Reorganisation: What It Means and Why It Matters.
