County, district and borough councillors are set to address the leader of Warwickshire County Council over plans to form a new unitary council at a public meeting on Friday.

Warwickshire County Council is set to formally express an interest in being among the first round of local government reshuffles that would see it and the county's five district and borough councils abolished. 

One new authority would then emerge to take control of all services that are currently delivered across the two tiers of local government. 

It is part of the new national government's plans to streamline council services and this is a route that has been on Warwickshire's agenda for a number of years. 

The decision to seek to move forward in the quickest possible timescale and delay May's local elections is a political one that county leader Councillor Izzi Seccombe OBE (Con, Stour & the Vale) signalled her intent to take last month. 

That expression of interest has to be formally submitted by the end of Friday and her decision to do so will be taken as an urgent decision. 

Decisions taken by the leader of portfolio holders are usually simply signed off but if county councillors or members of the public, including district and borough councillors, wish to address the matter, a meeting held in public is convened. 

It will take place at noon on Friday (January 10) at the county council's Shire Hall headquarters in Warwick. Members of the public can turn up but can only speak if they register to do so two full working days prior to the meeting. 

The report informing the decision, authored by monitoring officer Sarah Duxbury, the county council's most senior legal authority, detailed how failure to submit interest would make Warwickshire "unliklely"to be considered for the first tranche.

"It would also mean that Warwickshire would be less well placed to influence the government's proposed timescales and would have less opportunity to influence and shape the geographical landscape of devolution and reorganisation within which Warwickshire sits," the report continued.

"Given that Warwickshire has already secured a Level 2 devolution deal, Warwickshire is well placed to amplify and accelerate its devolution aspirations for the county, delivering growth for the local economy and benefits for residents. 

"Not to respond would potentially be a lost opportunity for Warwickshire to be part of and benefit from deeper devolution arrangements with government, through alignment with a strategic authority, which reorganisation could help to drive, and which could optimise the benefits for Warwickshire. 

"Being part of early dialogue in relation to this would also provide the opportunity to influence and shape future arrangements at a strategic level. 

"The options for Warwickshire would likely be more limited if Warwickshire moves at a slower pace, by which time arrangements in surrounding areas will likely have been already settled and implementation underway."

It also acknowledges "significant engagement with the district and borough councils, local partners and other local stakeholders" will be needed but argues that being open to go ahead and postpone elections "preserves Warwickshire's position should the government be minded to prioritise Warwickshire for reorganisation and devolution". 

The government will decide how things progress for interested areas once all submissions are in. Ms Duxbury's report confirmed that if Warwickshire was accepted in tranche one, elections would likely take place in May 2026, "however it would be open to the government to postpone the county council elections for a longer period".

It is anticipated that May 2026 elections would decide who represents the public on the new county-wide authority which would then act as a shadow organisation while the six current councils are wound down, fully taking over services from April 2027. 

Cllr Seccombe confirmed last month that the application would relate to one new county-wide council for Warwickshire based on current boundaries, running through a leader and cabinet as the current county council does now, as opposed to a directly elected mayor.