Minutes:
Council considered a presentation made by the Chief Executive which provided an update relating to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) proposals and public consultation. In summary, the information provided by the Chief Executive included:
· the key features of the various proposals, impact of population profiles and size with potential imbalances and potential issues for the two options as well as the growth for Derby City Council.
· a public consultation had begun and included the proposals for a Northern and separate Southern Derbyshire County Unitary as well as the various options for Amber Valley Borough Council.
· Option ‘C’ was new with Amber Valley potentially being split along parish boundaries rather than moved as a whole into either the Southern or Northern Derbyshire Unitary but there were potential constraints with this option.
· the Chief Executive, Leader of the Council, and Deputy Leader, Councillor Ritchie and the Interim Director of Planning, Devolution & Corporate Policy had attended a number of public consultation sessions at Shirebrook Town Hall, Clowne, South Normanton and Bolsover Contact Centres to encourage the public to engage with the process and encourage them to take part. The consultation was available online and was due to close on 10th August 2025.
· Derbyshire County Council had amended their position in relation to their original submission for a single Derbyshire County Unitary with Derby City Council remaining unchanged in the middle previously described as a donut. At their meeting in July 2025, Derbyshire County Council amended their position to include Options A and B (as submitted by the Derbyshire Borough and District Councils) as well as a separate Option C with the split for Amber Valley Borough Council and a slice through the southern end of Derbyshire Dales.
· A series of workstreams had commenced as Phase 2 focused on the reorganisation proposal which included county-wide officer and councillor working groups to review topics such as Day 1 Readiness, Data and Insights, Transformation and Service Design, Finance, legal/governance and communication and engagement.
· Phase 3 would focus on the transition and preparation for Vesting Day of the new Council (once approved).
· Latest advice notes from Government Minister McMahon included:
o Reiteration that the 500k population was a guideline and not a hard target.
o Emphasis that the Minister was prepared to intervene where Councils were not working together or sharing data.
o Confirmed timeline of 1st April 2028 (Vesting Day).
o Government intention to issue directions to give shadow unitary authorities significant control over the final year of district and county councils making new financial commitments before Vesting Day.
· The process and timeline for BDC was confirmed as:
o November 2025 submission of the final proposal.
o New Year 2026 the statutory consultation would be launched.
o July 2026 the Ministerial decision on which proposal to implement would be made.
o Early autumn 2026 the Structural Order would be laid.
o Late Autumn 2026 or early 2027 the Structural Change Order would be passed.
o 6th May 2027 elections for the new shadow unitary authority would take place.
o 1st April 2028 vesting day of the new unitary authority.
· Financial decisions made by councils prior to LGR must not fetter the future decisions of the new Unitary Councils and examples included:
o Sale and purchase of significant assets.
o Transfer of local assets.
o New major contracts for service delivery.
o Establishing new companies.
o Changes to unplanned borrowing and spending of reserves.
o Major changes to local arrangements e.g. Council tax exemption schemes.
· The Secretary of State had the power to issue directions to ensure any new agreements were in the best interests of the new Councils or residents and they intended to issue directions to all Councils which will follow previous practice.
The following additional information was provided in response to Member questions:
· The Government will be the decision maker on the options submitted by the local area and would not be developing their own option.
· The potential for EMCCA to impose a precept had not been discussed to date at county wide LGR officer meetings. However, Strategic Authorities had the power to impose precepts.
· The proposals in the Devolution Bill focused on ensuring sustainable authorities which would have the ability to withstand future financial shocks. There would need to be an equalisation of council tax in the new councils but this would be a decision by councillors in the new Council.
· During 2027-28 staff would be transferred under TUPE arrangements to the new Council. It was likely that the District Council elections would be deferred from 2027 as the elections for the Shadow Authority would be taking place that year. The District Council would be working alongside the new Shadow Authority for a period of 12 months. The detail in terms of the number of councillors per area will be included in the final submission.
· The Government had been putting measures in place to protect existing council’s assets and reserves to prevent them being stripped prior to the new Council.
· A recent notification received from Government had indicated that BDC would be 1 of 49 council’s hardest hit with the new funding formula. Funds had been transferred to the Growth Reserve of £14m in anticipation of this change however it was not known if this would be sufficient or if BDC would be facing a deficit.
· The future role of Town and Parish Councils sat firmly within the Devolution White Paper and there was discussion taking place to set up potential neighbourhood partnerships with Town and Parish Councils and other partners at a more local level.
· A cross-party working group relating to the legacy of BDC was being pursued.