Rutland County Council’s Cabinet has endorsed the North, City, South proposal for Local Government Reorganisation, indicating support for it to be submitted to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Councils across England have been engaged in a government-led process of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) since December 2024, following publication of the English devolution white paper.
The Government has set a final deadline of 28 November 2025 for councils to submit or indicate their support for one single LGR proposal. Rutland is included in three different LGR plans:
· The Leicester City Council proposal, which could expand the City boundaries and include Rutland in a single Leicestershire unitary
· An option being put forward by Leicestershire County Council for a two-unitary model with an unchanged Leicester City and a large Leicestershire unitary that absorbs Rutland
- The North, City, South proposal for a three-unitary model covering the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland area, which would form a new North Leicestershire and Rutland council
These proposals were discussed and debated by Rutland County Councillors at a Full Council meeting on Thursday 20 November. A previous Cabinet meeting on 14 October recommended this debate should be focussed on identifying the proposal which provides the best means of ensuring long-term financial sustainability and high quality sustainable public services for Rutland, as well as meeting specific evaluation criteria set by the UK Government.
The Council’s Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee conducted a similar exercise at its meeting on 16 October 2025. A special task and finish group was set up to compare all available LGR proposals that include Rutland, with a detailed evaluation report published as part of the November Full Council meeting.
At the end of Rutland’s Full Council debate on 20 November, 18 Elected Members not on cabinet were invited to participate in a non-binding informal vote to indicate which proposal, if any, they supported. The results of the vote were as follows:
- Leicester City Council proposal – 0 votes
- Leicestershire County Council proposal – 0 votes
- The North, City, South proposal – 9 votes
Nine councillors did not cast a vote to indicate a preference.
Councillor Gale Waller, Leader of Rutland County Council, said: “Devolving more power and funding to councils is something I think most people support. This is what the Government has said it wants to achieve. However, the demands that Ministers have put on councils and the way they’ve gone about it – mandating a radical overhaul of local government in less than a year – has created huge pressure and a lot of frustration. I’ve said throughout that this is not something we want to do. However, pretending we can stop or simply ignore a government with a huge parliamentary majority benefits no one.
“I’ve also said time and again that councils must be led by evidence when deciding which LGR proposal represents the best option for our residents. I’m grateful to Members for the careful consideration they gave to each of the available LGR proposals at our Full Council meeting. I’d particularly like to thank our Scrutiny Committee for the speed and quality of work undertaken by its task and finish group, whose evaluation helped to inform our debate. After taking all of this into account, interrogating each of the three options open to us and listening to the thoughts and feelings of our residents, Cabinet determined that North, City, South is the proposal that provides the best chance of ensuring long-term financial sustainability and high-quality services for Rutland.
“It’s important to stress that Government – not councils – will make the final decision on the future makeup of local authorities, sometime next year. Indeed, Ministers may completely disregard the option we’ve chosen to endorse. The most important thing at this moment is that a proposal goes forward to the Government on 28 November that is as beneficial to Rutland as it possibly can be. We believe that, from the three available options, North, City, South is the proposal most likely to deliver future prosperity for our residents.”
The UK Government has indicated that, following the endorsement and submission of final LGR proposals on 28 November, it will look to hold a public consultation within specific areas in early 2026.
A Government decision on which LGR proposals to implement across England is expected in summer 2026. Shadow elections for new authorities are expected in 2027, followed by a vesting day when new councils officially take over in 2028.
The agenda and reports for Cabinet on Friday 21 November 2025 can be read in full on Rutland County Council’s website: www.rutland.gov.uk/meetings. Minutes and a recording from the meeting will be published within one week of the meeting date.
A video recording of Rutland County Council’s Full Council meeting on Thursday 20 November is available to view on the Council’s YouTube channel.
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