Local government reorganisation and devolution

In December 2024, the government set out plans for how they’d like to move powers from central to local government across England. They call this ‘devolution’.

A big part of their plan for this involves reorganising the way local councils work.

The government’s plans are set out in a document called the English Devolution White Paper.

We’ve summarised the important points for you below.

This video was generated using AI to help us make effective use of time and resources.

Devolution

What is devolution and what's the government's plan around this?

Devolution means giving more power and decision-making authority to local and regional governments.

It's about shifting power away from the central government in Westminster and putting it in the hands of people closer to the communities they serve.

For Staffordshire, this means: 

• A stronger voice and a seat at the table in shaping national projects. 
• Greater influence to lobby for funding and investment. 
• Opportunities to lead on initiatives that matter locally. 

Some of the key features of the government’s plans for devolution are:

• Strategic Authorities: These are groups of local councils working together to cover larger areas. Think of them as regional governing bodies. Many areas already have Combined Authorities, which would become Strategic Authorities. The government’s goal is to eventually have Strategic Authorities covering all of England. A single Staffordshire Strategic Mayoral Authority would ensure our county is no longer overlooked – giving us the recognition and influence we deserve.
• Mayors: The government strongly believes in having directly elected mayors to lead these Strategic Authorities. They see mayors as strong, visible leaders who can drive change and be held accountable by the public.
• Funding: Strategic Authorities, particularly those led by mayors, would receive more funding from central government. This would give them more control over how money is spent locally.
• Powers: Devolution would give Strategic Authorities more control over key areas that affect people's lives, things like transport, housing, skills, and economic development.
• While devolution remains one of the governments ambitions, recent policy developments show a move away from genuine devolution in favour of Local Government Reorganisation. 

Local Government Reorganisation

What is Local Government Reorganisation and what's the government's plan around this?

Local government reorganisation basically means changing the way local government is structured – the number and size of councils and who is responsible for what.

Right now, in many parts of England, there are two or more levels of council:

• County councils: These cover larger areas and deal with things like education, social care, and transportation.
• District or borough councils: These cover smaller areas within counties and handle things like local planning, housing, and waste collection.
• Parish and town councils: These councils may look after very local amenities such as allotments, public clocks, play areas and equipment.

In Staffordshire, we have:

• Staffordshire County Council, which covers the whole of Staffordshire.
• Eight district and borough councils. These are South Staffordshire District Council, Lichfield District Council, Cannock Chase District Council, Stafford Borough Council, Newcastle Under-Lyme Borough Council, East Staffordshire Borough Council, Tamworth Borough Council and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council.
• 180 town and parish councils.
• We also have a small unitary council - Stoke-on-Trent City Council. They are responsible for providing all council services in their area.

Local government reorganisation aims to simplify the way local government works by:

• Creating unitary councils: These would be single councils responsible for all local government services within a particular area, replacing the two-tier system.
• Ensuring councils are a suitable size to be efficient and effective: The government thinks that there should be at least 500,000 residents in most new unitary councils.

What does local government reorganisation mean for Staffordshire?

The government’s plans may lead to fewer councils in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the future and changes to what each council is responsible for.

All the same services will still need to be provided, but this may be by a number of newly formed unitary authorities and a Strategic Authority, rather than the ten councils that currently operate across the county and city.

The government thinks that new unitary authorities should provide services for around 500,000 people. They think that new Strategic Authorities should cover around 1.5 million people.

Exactly what this looks like for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent has not been agreed at this stage.

Town or parish councils will not be affected structurally by the changes.

Timeline of Activity:

February 2025

On 27 February 2025, the council's outline proposal was considered by Cabinet Members at a meeting on 5 March. This was approved and was taken to a meeting of Full Council on 13 March.

On 21 March 2025, we submitted an outline proposal as part of an interim plan for local government reorganisation to government.

Read The Staffordshire Leaders’ Board interim plan for local government reorganisation (238 KB)

May 2025

In May, a new county council administration was elected. The new Leader and Deputy Leader reviewed the options for local government reorganisation in Staffordshire.

June 2025

In June, councils across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent received feedback on the interim plans submitted in March.

Read the feedback letter (232 KB)

July – August 2025

The county council hosted a series of in-depth focus groups – one in each of Staffordshire’s eight district and boroughs – to get a detailed understanding of what residents think about the opportunities and challenges that local government reorganisation may bring. People were selected to attend these groups based on their characteristics to ensure that overall, the people we spoke to represented the type of people who live in the county.

September 2025

On 17 September, our cabinet agreed on a new plan for how councils in Staffordshire could be reorganised. This is now the Council's preferred option for Local Government Reorganisation. The new plan suggests creating two new councils - one for East Staffordshire and one for West Staffordshire.

The East Staffordshire council would provide services for 689,784 people in Staffordshire Moorlands, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Tamworth and Stoke-on-Trent using the existing district and borough council boundaries. The West Staffordshire council would serve 487,794 people in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Stafford, Cannock Chase and South Staffordshire.

Read the cabinet papers.

View map of proposed changes 

Of the options that meet the government’s criteria for change, our research shows that the East-West option is the best financial option and would give both new councils the best chance of success, meaning better services and better value for all of our residents and businesses. 

November 2025

On 4 November, Cabinet approved the submission of the Full Business Case for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in Staffordshire and on 28 November 2025, Staffordshire County Council submitted its final plan to Government. 

The business case sets out a proposal for how local government could be restructured in the future, with the creation of two new unitary councils – one for the East of the county (including Stoke-on-Trent), and one for the West.

The East-West proposal is one of a number of options being put forward to replace the existing county, city, district and borough councils of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. This option offers the best financial outcome, meaning better services and better value for all of our residents and businesses. 

What happens next?

There’s still lots of work to do before any reorganisation of councils and responsibilities takes place.

The detailed business case will be submitted to government by 28 November 2025.

In early 2026, the government is expected to invite the public to provide feedback, through a formal consultation, on the proposals put forward by the councils in Staffordshire. Government is expected to make a decision on the preferred option for Staffordshire in Summer 2026.   

The whole process of change will take a number of years and the earliest we’d expect to see changes fully up and running is 2028.

How we'll keep you updated

Any change will take several years to work through.

Proposals will be considered as part of an open and democratic process, including public cabinet meetings and council meetings.

You can follow the latest updates on the Staffordshire Newsroom and on our social media channels.

You can also sign up for MyStaffordshire, a fortnightly email update delivered to your inbox.