Scrapping councils would save £20m a year - report

Scrapping Worcestershire's seven councils and replacing them with a single authority could save more than £20m a year, according to a report.

The study, by consultants PwC, also suggested an alternative option of splitting the county into two new unitary councils – north and south - could save £4.3m a year.

Politicians are currently divided over the two options, after the government asked council leaders to produce proposals to merge the county's two-tier system.

Councils are required to produce a business case for changes by the end of November.

Any new local authorities could be up and running as early as April 2028, following elections in May 2027.

At present, Worcestershire has one county council, responsible for services including roads and social care, sitting above six district councils that run services such as bin collections and housing.

"One Worcestershire council would be more effective and efficient," said Simon Geraghty, the Conservative leader of the county council, at a scrutiny meeting on Tuesday.

Following the publication of Labour's devolution white paper, his administration commissioned consultants PwC to provide an independent review of the options.

Its work, the Future Worcestershire Proposal, suggested moving to a single "unitary" authority could cost £11.9m in one-off costs, but save £20.6m a year.

PwC estimated another option, of splitting the historic county in two, would cost £16.9m, and save only £4.3m a year.

Its consultants also said the proposed north and south councils would both face further financial challenges.

A northern council, formed from Bromsgrove, Redditch and Wyre Forest would take a smaller share of council tax, but a higher proportion of deprived communities, for instance.

In addition, demand for expensive services such as home-to-school transport and special educational needs provision would "disproportionately impact" a southern council formed of Worcester, Wychavon and Malvern Hills, consultants found.

However, the report was criticised by Lynn Denham, the Labour leader of Worcester City Council, for containing too many assumptions and inaccuracies.

At the moment, Worcestershire's political leaders appear deadlocked over which option is best.

Although Worcestershire County Council and Wyre Forest District Council have argued a single unitary authority is the only option to meet the government's criteria, both Worcester City Council and Malvern Hills District Council have said they would prefer the county be split in two.

Three other districts, Bromsgrove, Redditch and Wychavon, said both options needed further exploration.

At the scrutiny meeting, Conservative member Emma Marshall and Liberal Democrat Tom Wells questioned whether statutory services such as social care would take priority over things like arts funding, once councils were combined.

"Whether we end up with a model that is countywide, or north and south, is it not the case that districts' discretionary services are now at risk, to support the statutory services we are struggling to provide?" Wells asked.

To protect services, Geraghty said any future local authority would learn from the best practice of other existing unitary councils across England.

While councillors in Worcestershire have until November to submit a business case for proposals to the government, any negotiations are likely to be interrupted by county council elections on 1 May.

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