Warwickshire County Council is "very likely" to tell district and borough councils of plans to abolish them in talks being held today (December 19). 

That was the prediction of Warwick District Council leader Councillor Ian Davison (Green, Leamington Brunswick) when asked about the prospect of the "speediest possible" amalgamate all six bodies currently running council services to create one new unitary authority.

A government letter and paper released on Monday invited expressions of interest from upper-tier – county – councils to form one unitary authority in areas where services are currently delivered across two levels of council.

That is currently the case in Warwickshire with the county council handling things like roads, education and social care and five separate district or borough councils tackling things like bins, housing, environmental health and council tax collection.

The prospect of a unitary authority – one council to deal with all services – has been mooted many times in recent years with the new Labour government keen to push through such plans across England and Wales. 

Decisions on how quickly areas go are politically led with the Conservatives in charge at Shire Hall backing the prospect as recently as 2021, and Warwickshire already has a devolution deal in place, giving it more control over how millions of pounds of UK Shared Prosperity funding (UKSPF) and adult education money is spent.

If it happens, the five second-tier councils – Warwick District, Stratford-on-Avon District, North Warwickshire Borough, Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough and Rugby Borough – would be phased out with a new county-wide authority taking charge of all services.

Meeting with the county council

Cllr Davison referred to the matter in his announcements at a meeting for all Warwick district councillors on Wednesday night. 

"We will have different views on the wisdom or otherwise of this intention, as well as whether it will actually happen here, and if so how and when," he said.

"Until there is greater clarity, rather than be distracted by these hugely important possibilities, the cabinet is determined to focus on delivering improvements for local residents. We also remain committed to supporting our staff in their work."

He was later asked by Councillor Phil Kohler (Lib Dem, Leamington Lillington) how likely it was that Warwickshire County Council would submit a letter of interest to ask "for the speediest possible unitarisation of the county" prior to the January 10 deadline.

Cllr Davison revealed that he would be joining Chris Elliott, chief executive of Warwick District Council, at a meeting at Shire Hall on Thursday. The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that senior leaders from the other districts and boroughs are to attend too.

"My best guess is they're very likely to do it," replied Cllr Davison.

"Under a previous administration they submitted the same sort of plans. At the moment, what we hear is that the government will have a prioritisation group to select the ones they think will go forwards – I don't know where Warwickshire will be in that.

"My feeling is that it is quite likely but not definite."

The impact on the ground

Mr Elliott was invited to comment and focused on the impact on people employed by the district.

"Clearly staff are very concerned," he said.

"That is coming through in the number of questions and we are trying to allay that concern. We have organised a staff briefing on Friday morning and Councillor Melrose has kindly volunteered to share her experience of it having been through the unitarisation process fairly recently. 

"I am sure members will understand that a lot of members of staff have asked 'do I have a job in 2025?'.

"In reality, most staff will have a job, the difficulty is being absolutely precise that all jobs and positions will be retained.

Pointing to himself, Mr Elliott continued: "Clearly, there is at least one job in this particular room that won't be, that's as it is but I am not particularly concerned about me, more other members of staff.

"On the point of the council carrying on the work it wants to do, it clearly needs the staff to be motivated to achieve that.

"With retention and recruitment, we still want to be an attractive place to work. Clearly, people may raise questions about that as well. That could hinder us, as we know from previous experiences where we have had staff shortages.

"That is the immediate issue that I want to focus on, trying to support staff." 

Cllr Kohler thanked Mr Elliott for raising the issue, adding: "Whenever reorganisation comes up it is always the staff who bear the brunt of it. There will be unease, I am sure." 

'Make sure districts are heard' 

Councillor Alan Boad (Lib Dem, Leamington Lillington) urged Cllr Davison to take a proactive approach in getting the district's voice heard. 

"The worry I have is that if submission needs to go in and the county no doubt will be champing at the bit because they have a proposal to put in, we ought to be involved to try to change that," he said. 

"The government is clearly saying they are expecting a bit further down the line to have a united front going forward, not opposing options. If we wish to influence what is going forward, whether it is a single unitary or two unitaries, we need to be in there arguing the case to see if it can be won. 

"If that case needs to be argued and debated then the chances of a submission going in for January would be remote, I would suggest. 

"Don't you think we should be involved as early as we can because this is going to be fast moving with certain players who, perhaps, want to be where we don't want to be.

"I also think this is quite a big decision that should be worked on and that group leaders should be involved in negotiations and discussions as to how this council wants to go forward.

"We don't have a lot of time to debate something going in early January. I am a bit concerned about that and if we are worried about it, what can we do to slow it down."

Cllr Davison replied: "Much of what you said were thoughts that I had. 

"In terms of other leaders and chief execs, I did reach out a couple of months ago but had no reply. You could argue that was because they wanted to wait to see exactly what the government was saying, we still don't know exact details but we clearly have a strong direction of travel. 

"Part of the premise of what you were saying seemed to be that all parties would be open to negotiation. I am not sure that is the case but I will feed back after the meeting with what I can on that." 

"I would like to think we do need to be there but as I understand the regulation, the county can go it alone if they wish. I will clarify that."

Warwickshire County Council has been approached for comment.