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# Decision to pause local government reorganisation is an extraordinary U-turn, leader of Lichfield District Council says
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/decision-to-pause-local-government-reorganisation-is-an-extraordinary-u-turn-leader-of-lichfield-district-council-says/
- Published: 2026-09-07T14:45:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-07T14:45:07.000Z
- Description: Government will pause plans to implement new unitary authorities.
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: Politics, News

THE leader of Lichfield District Council says plans to pause local government reorganisation represents an "extraordinary U-turn" by the Government.

Work has been taking place to change how public services are delivered as part of efforts to end two-tier council areas.

Under the proposals – which were due to kick in by 2028 – Staffordshire County Council and other local councils, including Lichfield District Council, would be replaced by a unitary authority.

A number of proposals were put forward, with the Government eventually opting for a north-south split which would have seen Lichfield and Burntwood in with Stafford, East Staffordshire, Cannock Chase, Tamworth and South Staffordshire.

The new body would deliver services to around 682,800 people.

But now the Government has said it will pause plans for local government reorganisation – with some areas already seeing the scheme shelved altogether.

[ ](#) 

Elections for the new unitary authorities had been expected to take place in May 2027 ahead of the full changeover, but a review will now take place which could see the moves scrapped altogether.

Cllr Doug Pullen, leader of Lichfield District Council, said:

> "Finally, the Government appears to be listening. From the outset, we have said that local government reorganisation in Staffordshire is the wrong answer to a question nobody asked.  
>  
> "It has been rushed, poorly thought through and, extraordinarily for a change of this scale, nobody has yet been able to tell residents what it will actually cost.  
>  
> "This is a Government which talks endlessly about devolution while pursuing a policy which does precisely the opposite – abolishing genuinely local councils, creating enormous new authorities serving hundreds of thousands of people, and moving decision-making further away from the communities affected by it.  
>  
> "The pause is welcome, but it also represents yet another extraordinary U-turn from a Government which has become accustomed to announcing policy first and asking questions afterwards."

Cllr Pullen said he hoped decision makers in Whitehall would now ditch the changes altogether:

> "Too many Government backbenchers have simply nodded these proposals through rather than asking the basic questions their constituents deserve answers to, such as how much will this cost? Where are the savings? Will services actually improve? And how does creating bigger, more remote councils constitute devolution?  
>  
> "Those of us who have consistently challenged local government reorganisation have done so because we believe local government should be exactly that – local.  
>  
> "The Government should now use this opportunity not simply to pause, but to think again about whether reorganisation should proceed at all.  
>  
> "I very much hope our Member of Parliament Dave Robertson will now lead that fight in Westminster.  
>  
> "Lichfield needs a strong voice making the case that bigger government is not necessarily better government, and that residents should not be forced to pay the price for an expensive restructuring exercise dreamed up in Whitehall."

Cllr Martin Murray, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said the Government needed to stop wasting the time of local councils:

> "This is an eleventh-hour decision from Government, made with little warning and even less detail.  
>  
> "Councils across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent have worked flat out to meet Government’s timetable following their rules. To pause now wastes time, drains capacity and undermines confidence.  
>  
> "The timetable is broken. Government must stop wasting our time and energy, give councils straight answers and put devolution first.  
>  
> "Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent need a strategic authority, a stronger voice and the power to make decisions locally. We will keep pressing for that."