County councillors from all parties will form a panel to thrash out options for local government reform in Warwickshire – but only after the current leader dished out a "reality pill".

The bulk of Warwickshire's council services are delivered over two levels of local government, the county council taking care of things like social care, education and highways, while districts and boroughs look after matters such as council tax collection, bins and planning. 

The government has requested that all such two-tier areas move towards a unitary model, bringing them under one level of local government.

Councils have been invited to forward proposals for how that will look with Warwickshire County Council leader Cllr Izzi Seccombe advocating a new authority to cover the whole county, abolishing the county and five district and borough councils.

Some political opponents have called for a north-south split – Stratford and Warwick districts forming one council with North Warwickshire, Rugby and Nuneaton Bedworth boroughs coming together for another.

It has led to public debates in council chambers in Warwick and Stratford with a third discussion held at the county's Shire Hall headquarters this week. 

A short and sweet motion – a statement of intent voted on by all councillors – was tabled for the county council to develop its county-wide proposal but Labour and the Liberal Democrats came forward with more detailed statements to take account of local opinions, particularly around alternative options. 

The meeting to debate the matter, which members of district and borough councils and members of the public were able to contribute to, was adjourned for 20 minutes for group leaders to coalesce around wording. 

In the end, it was unanimously accepted that the council should seek more clarity from government on the parameters that its plan must stick to – for example, guidance suggests new council areas should have a population of 500,000-plus, potentially pushing Warwickshire towards a single unitary model – while developing it in time for cabinet to decide on in early March for a mid-March submission to government. 

Also included was a commitment to engage with districts, boroughs, towns, parishes and communities, to work with regional partners, recognition of the "importance of the boundary and identity" of Warwickshire and to "strive for" economic prosperity.

Having reached agreement, Cllr Seccombe said that the motion "does not presume an outcome" but still leaned towards her preferred option.

"We have a submission to be made in March," she said.

"At this point in time, I think it is likely to be an umbrella, it will all be wrapped up as Warwickshire but there may be one, two or even 3,000 pieces within it that the government will then have to evaluate because this will be their decision.

"The evidence is what we need to get and work on." 

In her concluding remarks, the leader fleshed out her thinking around why two new unitaries would not work, particularly in relation to expensive services delivered by the county council.

"There are absolute passions in this subject, I think we all know that," she said. 

"What we have before us is something that tries to take out the passion to deal with what we can realistically get on and do that accommodates everyone, a genuine piece of work which will be evidence based.

"That said, I am going to touch a little bit on my own passions. Forgive me, but I want to talk about taking a reality pill.

"If we split adult social care, the already achieved benefits that we have of a high-achieving, low-cost model will have to deliver two bureaucracies – I don't see that being a benefit to our residents.

"Children's services would be the same, likely going into a trust. What I hear from many people who have those trusts is that you want to avoid that. All you do is lift and shift money over, they tell you how much, you have no input or control on how it is delivered. To me, that is not democracy or what we have been elected to do."

She added that efforts to grapple with increased demand for special educational needs (SEN) services "have to be about controlling what we can", while also arguing that the council's workforce needed to "feel confident in us, the elected members, writing a sensible and pragmatic solution to Warwickshire's future".