Council seeks refund for stalled shake-up

A council says it will ask the government to reimburse money it spent as part of stalled plans for reorganising local government.

In September, plans which would have seen smaller councils replaced with larger local authorities were put on hold after complaints from councils across the country.

The leader of South Holland District Council in Lincolnshire, Nick Worth, is to write to the secretary of state to ask for a reimbursment of the money spent by the authority and "clear answers" before any more is spent on the changes.

Conservative councillor Margaret Geaney said: "Local residents should not be left to pick up a bill for a process which the government has now chosen to pause."

Geaney put forward a motion calling for reimbursement at a council meeting last week, arguing the money used by the council to put forward its preferred bid could have been used to provide better services for locals, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

She said: "At a time when council finances are already under enormous pressure, every pound unnecessarily spent on local government reorganisation is a pound which cannot be spent on services our residents rely on."

The council will now have to work out the full cost it paid towards the local government reorganisation proposals.

The government is currently reviewing the proposals and previously confirmed the local elections in May 2027 would go ahead on existing council boundaries.

Other councils are also seeking compensation from the government, with Essex councils spending more than £5m before the plans were withdrawn.

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