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Councils throughout the country face an agonising wait to find out if the unitary train will get derailed in the courts. The judicial review, brought by Shrewsbury and Atcham BC and Congleton BC, was heard at the High Court last week. The councils' grounds for the judicial review 1. The secretary of state did not have the power to invite proposals, assess proposals and make decisions on which ones went forward without the appropriate legislation in place 2. The secretary of state also did not follow her own criteria for assessment, particularly regarding whether a bid has a broad cross section of support 3. The consultation was unfair because the DCLG website did not have links to councils who did not support the bids But councils which are poised to mount similar legal challenges against the Government will have to wait until the end of the month for Mr Justice Underhill's verdict. Shrewsbury and Atcham BC chief executive, Robin Hooper, said he was ‘very confident' of victory. Andrew Arden QC, representing Shrewsbury and Atcham BC and Congleton BC, said the process was ‘blighting' local authorities which were under threat of abolition. Mr Arden said the secretary of state had acted outside her powers, and that ‘substantive decisions' had clearly been taken, even though the Bill was still going through Parliament. ‘We say that a decision to abolish is of consequence in itself,' he told the court. ‘What we are concerned about is the harm being caused when a Bill may, or may not, become law.' Mr Arden also criticised the DCLG for not including links to the opponents of the various unitary bids on its website. James Eadie, representing the DCLG, said the secretary of state had all the powers of the Crown available to her. ‘All that has happened is that she has invited proposals,' said Mr Eadie. ‘She has considered some of them and she has filtered some of them. There have been no legal changes.' Mr Eadie added that Ms Blears ‘is not treating the decisions as final', and said ‘there is still a considerable amount of work to be done as far as Chester City Council's bid'. Richard McManus QC, representing Shropshire CC and Cheshire CC, said the secretary of state had ‘ample' powers to carry out the unitary consultation. Ms Blears has also urged councils involved in reorganisation not to allow the process to distract them from essential work. She told an LGA conference: ‘What I don't want is people to take their eyes off the ball of the main business. ‘I know it's a vain hope because people will think of their jobs and so on, but it matters.'

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WHITEHALL

Unitary waiting game leaves councils in limbo

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