Title

Derbyshire CC has published a local government reorganisation proposal for a single council covering the entire county.

The county had been expected to back a plan to replace Derbyshire's 10 local authorities with two unitary councils as part of the Government overhaul.

However, in a surprise move, the county council is now arguing that a single council option is the ‘most cost-effective by a huge margin'.

A county council statement claimed savings of at least £144m after six years and £45m per year from year six onwards compared to the current two-tier system.

Leader of Derbyshire CC, Alan Graves, said: ‘Creating one new council would save millions of pounds every year compared to creating two unitary councils and would cost less to set-up. It would also be less disruptive as major county council services such as adult care and highways would not need to be separated out over two areas.'