Over 7,000 take part in future of local government consultation

More than 7,000 people have had their say on how local council services are delivered in the future, as part of the biggest change to local government in 50 years.

A proposal drawn up by Derbyshire’s eight district and borough councils, together with Derby City Council, would see the 10 councils that provide services across the county replaced with two councils – one covering the north of the county, and one covering the south.

Last month, the city council, alongside Derbyshire’s eight borough and district councils, launched a six-week public consultation asking for views on the ‘One Derbyshire, Two Councils’ proposal.

To encourage engagement, Marketing Derby hosted a special online consultation event for its Bondholders, with further information available at the Derby City Lab in Derby Market Hall.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the councils, said: “Thank you to everyone who has shared their views on our options for the future of local council services in Derbyshire.

“People and places across Derbyshire must come first when we think about the future of the councils that deliver their services, and we felt it important to ask residents, businesses and organisations across the county what they think about the plans.

“It will take us some time to thoroughly review and collate the results over the coming weeks, and people’s views will be used to inform our final proposal and business case for how local government reorganisation should be taken forward in the best interests of Derbyshire’s communities.”

The consultation closed on Sunday 10 August. Results will now be reviewed and – alongside a range of other evidence – will be used to shape the final proposal, which needs to be submitted to the Government on or before 28 November.

The Government will then consider the proposal alongside any others that are submitted for Derbyshire before making a final decision on which proposal to implement.

Under the Government’s current timeline, elections for the new shadow authorities will take place in 2027 and the new councils would start to operate from April 2028.