LOCAL COUNCILS HAVE been plunged into chaos after the Government paused controversial plans to reorganise them.
Since July, Malvern Hills and Wychavon District Councils and Worcestershire County Council have been preparing to be abolished. Their responsibilities were set to be absorbed by a single unitary council covering South Worcestershire.
The Government has now shelved those plans as it fears legal challenges. District council elections will now take place in May 2027.
West Worcestershire MP Dame Harriett Baldwin quizzed the Communities Secretary Angela Rayner whether district councillors elected next year could expect to serve a full four-year term.
Dame Harriett said: “On the eve of his sacking, the former Communities Secretary announced he was abolishing our councils and now his successor is halting that process.
“Worcestershire County Council, Malvern Hills and Wychavon Councils are left in limbo having spent over a year preparing for a change that no one asked for which now may not happen.
“Public money and scarce council resources have been thrown at fixing something that wasn’t broken. Local people will go to the polls in May where neither the candidates nor voters will know what council they will sit on or for how long they will serve.
“Angela Rayner was unable to answer my simple question. Time and again Labour has shown it has no plan and no answers.”
