> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Meeting told new unitary authority will have 92 councillors - URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/meeting-told-new-unitary-authority-will-have-92-councillors/ - Published: 2026-07-25T07:00:49.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-25T07:02:07.000Z - Description: Government has opted for split which will see Lichfield and Burntwood overseen by body covering more than 680,000 people. - Author: Kerry Ashdown, Local Democracy Reporter - Tags: Politics, News A NEW unitary authority is set to have 92 councillors, it has been revealed. It comes after confirmation of how seven councils across southern and mid-Staffordshire will be replaced by one larger body providing services. The new unitary council will cover council areas such as Stafford Borough, East Staffordshire Borough, Cannock Chase District, Lichfield District and South Staffordshire District, which have a combined population of more than 680,000 people. A new northern Staffordshire council, meanwhile, will provide services to more than 490,000 people living in Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle Borough and Staffordshire Moorlands. The Government’s decision on the creation of the two new councils means that Staffordshire County Council and a number of district and borough authorities will be axed in 2028. The announcement coincided with a meeting of Staffordshire County Council, where members were allowed 30 minutes to give their views on the announcement. Cllr Martin Murray, leader of the controlling Reform UK group, confirmed that the new northern Staffordshire authority was set to have 84 elected members, while its southern counterpart was proposed to have 92. Staffordshire County Council previously put forward a proposal for an east-west split of the area which has not been taken forward by the Government. Cllr Murray said: > "The Government has announced it – and now they go and break up for the summer. > > "We were told to play their game, so we followed and played by their rules and came up with the best financial option and choices as stipulated by their rules. > > "I still call foul because it doesn’t represent Staffordshire. They set out rules but kept changing them. > > "It started out as 500,000 \[population per new authority area\], then they said you can have lower. > > "I only wish we had VAR to go back and look at the changes because they have changed it from a Devolution White Paper into pure political mapping in some parts of this country. > > "But we do have a serious amount of work now ahead. Whether you want this or not, whether you agree or not, becomes a moot point because it is happening. > > "It is being forced upon us and therefore we have a duty to deliver so no resident, business or environment in this county gets hurt or damaged because of this process." Cllr Philip White, leader of the county council's Conservative opposition group, said: > "It has no democratic mandate at all in Staffordshire. A public consultation on which of the options you do not want, with no option to stay the same, is not democratic. > > "I agree with Cllr Murray that the most important thing we have to do is be responsible and put the interests of our residents first – even if the Labour Government has chosen not to do that. > > "We need to work together on this and we need to work with our colleagues on Stoke-on-Trent City Council and our districts and boroughs to try and make this change that has been forced upon us happen in the way that has the least negative impact on our residents. > > "The detail at the moment is scant, unfortunately, in terms of the ministerial statement, so now we will have six weeks where our MPs can scuttle away and hide. But we need to ask those questions and I think we need to get on the front foot with this. > > "The timetable for this is vanishingly short. We talk a lot in this chamber about all the challenges we have in our day-to-day business and we are heaping this on top of it."