A special meeting for all county councillors to debate the shaping of local government reform in Warwickshire could be on the cards imminently. 

Warwickshire County Council applied to be in the first tranche of two-tier areas – county councils with district and borough councils underneath – to bring all services under one new unitary authority. 

It didn't make the cut but the government is still asking all areas with two tiers to get on with forming plans, aiming to roll out new councils in April 2028 alongside plans for wider devolution. 

Current county council leader Cllr Izzi Seccombe has advocated sticking with Warwickshire's current footprint and economic and health partnerships while seeking more powers for itself through devolution.

She wants the new set-up to be its own strategic authority while maintaining the current less formal relationship with the West Midlands Combined Authority. 

There are a range of other options and ideas floating around, particularly from the district and borough councils that would cease to exist.

Alternatives will need to come together quickly with interim proposals to be sent to the government by March 21 this year, followed by full plans by November 28, 2025. 

Government correspondence sent to both levels of local government advocates partnership working and the avoidance of counter proposals where possible, particularly where they could split up current service arrangements, while acknowledging that separate and different plans may end up being tabled. 

It was an issue that came up sporadically during Thursday's county council budget debate at Shire Hall.

Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Jerry Roodhouse keen to use the back-up date for the budget showdown – put in place in case spending plans could not be agreed on the day – as an opportunity to thrash out the reform agenda.

He asked: "We've got a reserve date, could we use that for a unitary debate? 

"Shall we get everyone back in and let's have a good dust-up over unitaries? Can we do that? We'll see what's said.

"The date is in everyone's diaries, I'd presume. I think the whole council needs it, and it needs it now. I hope to get some assurance around this." 

The reserve date is Tuesday, February 18, at 10am.

Cllr Seccombe nodded at the time and told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she was open to the principle of a full debate but that the specifics would need to be worked on with officers – the council's senior staff. 

In the meantime, Stratford-on-Avon District Council hosts an extraordinary full council meeting to debate on the matter on Monday (February 10, 2pm). 

Cllr Seccombe has accepted her invite with Labour's minister for local government and English devolution Jim McMahon OBE, the leaders of Warwickshire's other four district and borough councils and local MPs Manuela Perteghella and Sir Jeremy Wright among those asked to come along.