North and south Derbyshire councils plan withdrawn

Plans for a major shake-up of local councils in Derbyshire have been withdrawn by the government.

On Thursday, ministers said plans to create a north and south council in Derbyshire - which they had previously given the green light - would now be reconsidered along with several other areas, including Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.

Amber Valley leaders had recently started the process of a legal challenge against the plans, which would have controversially involved splitting the borough between the two new unitary authorities.

The government said every area would have an outcome by early next year and "all options remain under consideration".

Local elections will go ahead in May on existing council boundaries.

It is hoped the new councils will be established for 2029, with elections to shadow councils in May 2028.

Local government minister Jim McMahon told MPs the government was still committed to the process of local government reorganisation (LGR), but that it had listened to local political leaders.

The Reform UK leader of Derbyshire County Council, Alan Graves, said officials would be using the time to restart efforts to lobby the government for the county's preferred proposal.

"We welcome the additional time this provides to engage with government on our preferred option for uniting Derbyshire served by a single local authority," he said.

"This has consistently been the county council's preferred approach because it provides the strongest foundation for sustainable, high-quality services, delivers the greatest benefits from reorganisation, and avoids the disruption that would result from breaking up services that currently operate across the county.

"We will continue to work constructively with the government and our local authority partners as the new timescales are developed and the options are reappraised."

The leader of the Derby Conservatives, Steve Hassall, said the idea of local council reorganisation needed to be scrapped altogether, criticising the government's "indecision".

"It was never a good policy in the first place, and the fact that they cannot proceed with it as it was just demonstrates how poor it was," he said.

"What they do need to do is just resign this poor decision to the dustbin. Nobody wants it, it clearly can't work. The government just need to get a grip."

While Derby city and the majority of district and borough councils elsewhere in the county had been supportive of the north and south council plan, Amber Valley recently started the first formal step towards a potential legal challenge over the government's paused plans for LGR.

Under the plans, parts of Amber Valley in the northern council would include Aldercar and Langley Mill, Alderwasley, Alfreton, Dethick, Lea and Holloway, Hazelwood, Heanor and Loscoe, Ripley and South Wingfield.

Meanwhile, areas which would join the southern council include Belper, Denby, Duffield, Holbrook, Kilburn, Kirk Langley, Mackworth, Mapperley, Quarndon, Shipley and Smalley.

Earlier this month, the Labour leader there, Chris Emmas-Williams, said: "We believe splitting Amber Valley is the wrong decision, and our responsibility is to stand up for the people and communities we represent."

Speaking to the BBC on a visit to Rolls-Royce in Derby on Thursday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he accepted the decision to withdraw the plans was "frustrating" for local leaders.

"There's definitely been a situation where people have put a lot of time into it and we haven't yet got the result that we need," he said.

"What I would say though is it's about better services in the long run.

"If you go through this process, in the end it gets you to a point where the councils will be set up better to support local people, so there is a prize at the end of the road."

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