Derbyshire County Council has published a local government reorganisation proposal for a single council covering the entire county.
The county council was expected to back a plan to replace Derbyshire’s 10 local authorities with two unitary councils as part of the Government’s overhaul of local government.
However, in a surprise move, the county council now argues that a single council option is ‘the most cost-effective by a huge margin’.
It claims that a single authority would save an extra £100m over the first six years compared to the two-council options and an extra £20m every year from then onwards.
Compared to the current two-tier system in Derby and Derbyshire, that’s a saving of at least £144m after six years and £45.1m per year from year six onwards, according to a statement by the council.
Leader of Derbyshire County Council, Cllr Alan Graves said: ‘Creating one new council would save millions of pounds every year compared to creating two unitary councils and would cost less to set-up. It would also be less disruptive as major county council services such as adult care and highways would not need to be separated out over two areas – which would be more costly as our financial analysis shows.’
Want to learn more about local government reorganisation? Check out: Local Government Reorganisation: What It Means and Why It Matters.
