In the absence of the Chairman of the Council (Councillor Casey), the Chair was occupied by the Vice-Chairman (Councillor Davidson).

The Council is asked to note any apologies for absence received from Members.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Bensilum, Casey, Morrison, Skeels, Steady, Thompson, Turner and Wiggins.

The Council is asked to approve, as a correct record, the minutes of the Budget and Council Tax setting meeting of the Council held on Tuesday 11 February 2025.

It was moved by Councillor M E Stephenson and:-

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Budget and Council Tax setting meeting of the Council held on 11 February 2025 be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests of Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made by a Member on this occasion.

This report sets out for Council an update in relation to Local Government Reorganisation, following the decision made by Council on 21 January 2025, and in readiness for the submission of an Interim Plan to Government by 21 March 2025, as formally required by the invitation from the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution to all Leaders of Councils in two-tier areas and Unitary Councils in Essex.

PLEASE NOTE THAT APPENDIX B TO THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT IS “TO FOLLOW”.

Council had before it a detailed report of the Chief Executive (A.1) which set out an update in relation to Local Government Reorganisation, following the decision made by Council on 21 January 2025, and in readiness for the submission of an Interim Plan to Government by 21 March 2025, as formally required by the invitation from the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution to all Leaders of Councils in two-tier areas and Unitary Councils in Essex.

Council recalled that, following the submissions by Essex County Council, Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea Unitary Councils on 10 January 2025 to join the Government’s new Devolution Priority Programme and committing to local government reorganisation, an announcement had been made by the Deputy Prime Minister on 5 February 2025 confirming ‘Greater Essex’s’ inclusion on the Priority Programme. 

The Government had also legislated that the elections scheduled for May 2025 for Essex County Council and Thurrock Council would be suspended, as confirmed by the Local Authorities (Changes to Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) Order 2025. 

Members were reminded that, on 5 February 2025, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution had written to Leaders of Councils in two-tier areas and Unitary Councils in Essex, formally inviting them, together with the other council leaders in the area, to develop a proposal for local government reorganisation. The formal invitation had set out further detail on the criteria against which proposals would be assessed, guidance for the development of the proposals and the timeline for this process. The formal invitation was attached as Appendix A to the Chief Executive’s report (A.1).

Councils would be expected to submit a final proposal on Local Government Reorganisation by 26 September 2025 and the formal invitation required an Interim Plan to be provided to Government on, or before, 21 March 2025, setting out progress on developing proposals in line with the criteria and guidance.  The level of detail that was possible at this stage might vary from place to place but the expectation was that one Interim Plan would be jointly submitted by all councils in the area.  It might be the case that the Interim Plan described more than one potential proposal for the area, if there was more than one option under consideration. The invitation set out a list of matters the Interim Plan should cover which were set out at (a) to (h) in the aforementioned Appendix A.

The Invitation had also stated that the final proposals must be made by 26 September 2025, and have regard to the guidance from the Secretary of State set out in the Schedule to the invitation, and to any further guidance on responding to the invitation received from the Secretary of State.  An authority responding to the invitation might either make its own proposal or make a proposal jointly with any of the other authorities invited to respond.

Guidance within the Schedule set out the Criteria for unitary local government (* relating to the final proposal) such as:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.