Council to ask for local election to be scrapped

A borough council is to push for local elections to be scrapped this year, because of plans for local government re-organisation.

Rugby Borough Council could cease to exist by April 2028 if plans to create new unitary authorities for Warwickshire go ahead.

Currently, the county is run via a two-tier system, with the county council as the upper tier and borough and district councils in a lower tier.

There are proposals to replace all that with a one-tier system in which the county is run by either one or two unitary authorities.

If those proposals are approved, more elections would have to be held in 2027 to elect members to the new authorities.

The plans are part of a nationwide shake-up of local government, which would affect 63 councils around the country.
'Decision down to voters'

The government has indicated it would agree to postpone elections due in May until 2027, if authorities make a request by mid-January.

One of the councils that has taken up that offer is Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, which would also be affected by the Warwickshire changes.

There, Labour group leader Chris Watkins said: "It was felt that holding [them] for a local authority that is shortly to be abolished is not a prudent use of resources."

The Labour group in Rugby said the limited life-span of Rugby Borough Council and the challenges of implementing the election were the main reasons for requesting the delay and noted the requests to delay elections elsewhere.

Councillor Maggie O'Rourke, of the Labour group, also said she was concerned the council would be hit with staff cuts as the re-organisation approached.

But Derek Poole, Conservative leader of the opposition on the council, said the re-organisation was "not relevant" and told the Labour group it was "down to the voters" to choose whether the elections continued, "not you".