The minority Labour administration in charge of North Herts Council is set to face a vote of no confidence over its stance on local government reorganisation (LGR).

Council leader Cllr Daniel Allen and his Labour colleagues backed plans to split Hertfordshire into four new unitary authorities during a non-binding vote at a council meeting last week.

But they were outvoted by the Liberal Democrat and Conservative opposition groups, who supported the idea of dividing the county into two authorities instead.

A final decision on which option would be formally backed by NHC rested, however, with the Labour cabinet at a meeting held Wednesday, 19 November. Cabinet members agreed to support the four-unitary option.

Similarly, Labour members of Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council's cabinet forced through a vote in favour of four unitaries despite full council preferring three, and the Green and Liberal Democrat administration at East Herts Council formally backed three despite full council preferring four.

In Dacorum, however, the Lib Dem cabinet agreed to back full council's preference for the four-unitary model despite its own preference for the two-unitary option.

All 10 district and borough councils in Hertfordshire, as well as the county council, are set to be abolished and replaced with unitary authorities as part of a Government-led reorganisation of local government.

The new authorities will take over all local government responsibilities in the areas they cover. It means services previously divided between the county council and district or borough council will be placed under the control of a single authority.

In Hertfordshire, a 410-page joint submission from all 11 councils will be put forward to the Government later this month, with each council supporting one of three options – for the county to be divided into two, three or four unitary authorities. The Government will make the final decision on how to divide Hertfordshire.

The two-unitary model would split Hertfordshire into East and West, while the four-unitary model would see a new Central Hertfordshire authority created, combining the areas currently covered by North Herts, Stevenage and Welwyn Hatfield councils. 

The proposed Central Hertfordshire authority would cover a population of around 352,000 people, and there would be 100 councillors on the new authority.

Financial modelling suggests the four-unitary option would save up to £124 million across Hertfordshire over the first 10 years when compared to the current system of local government – less than the predicted savings from the three- and four-unitary models.

At yesterday's NHC cabinet meeting, Cllr Allen said that the leader of the Lib Dem group, Cllr Ruth Brown, had told him a vote of no confidence in his leadership would be tabled if he did not vote for the two-unitary option.

And the leader of the Conservative group, Cllr Ralph Muncer, said at last week's meeting that "questions would … be raised as to council's confidence in the administration" if it did not "back the will of council".

Cllr Muncer has since confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that a vote of no confidence in the Labour administration "will now follow".

He also accused the administration of "putting diktats from Labour head office ahead of the indisputable decision taken by the democratically elected representatives of the people of North Hertfordshire".

The next full council meeting, where the vote of no confidence could be brought, will be held on Thursday, 4 December.

Cllr Allen said the actions of opposition councillors had put cabinet members in "an intolerable position" ahead of their meeting.

He said: "We have received formal advice from King's Counsel … that the vote of full council must be considered by the cabinet, but it must not predetermine our decision. Anything else would be unlawful.

"If any of us cast our votes today under threat, explicit or implied, we would be breaking the law.

"We'd be acting with a pre-determined mind, and I will not allow this cabinet to be forced into an unlawful decision."

Cllr Allen told the LDRS: "I am disappointed that Cllr Muncer has decided to play politics with such a crucial decision that impacts all our residents, not just present but for generations to come.

"Our residents in North Herts and Hertfordshire-wide have been clear they favour the four-unitary model.

"We will address this fully and transparently at full council, but our position remains rooted in what residents have told us and in what is genuinely best for North Hertfordshire's future."

A consultation earlier this year on LGR received feedback from 587 North Herts residents, with 390 of them expressing a view in favour of a model: 151 backed the four-unitary option and 144 preferred the two-unitary model.

The Labour MP for Hitchin, Alistair Strathern, said: "It's deeply disappointing to see local opposition parties, rather than backing residents' priorities, instead play politics with the decision and risk undermining the council's wider work.

"Rather than prioritising their own political preferences, they need to put our communities first and back the model that keeps power closest to our towns and villages."

NHC's cabinet member for environment, Cllr Amy Allen, added that there had been "dirty politics" and "political coercion" at play.

Cabinet members unanimously supported the four-unitary option.

The cabinet member for LGR, Cllr Laura Williams, reiterated that the four-unitary option had been the most popular with North Herts residents during the consultation.

"While every option widens the geographical area of the authority, the four-unitary model retains the best connection between representation and residents," she said. 

Cllr Allen said: "Whichever structure we choose, it will only succeed because of the people that work within it.

"Our job is to create the platform for their success: stable, local, representative bodies that match the communities they serve. The four-unitary model does that."

He countered suggestions from opposition councillors that the new Central Hertfordshire authority would face financial struggles: "These are projected estimates with a wide range of uncertainty.

"To use loaded terms like 'economic illiteracy' or 'financial mismanagement' wildly misrepresents the expert, diligent work of our officers across Hertfordshire."

NHC's cabinet also agreed to suggest to the Government that a change be made to the existing four-unitary proposals.

Current plans would see Royston wards, as well as Arbury and Weston & Sandon, split off to join a new Eastern Hertfordshire authority, rather than follow the rest of North Herts into a Central Hertfordshire authority.

But Cllr Allen will now work on a letter to be sent to the Government, suggesting that Arbury be moved with the rest of North Herts into a Central Hertfordshire authority.

A Government consultation on the proposals for LGR in Hertfordshire is expected next spring, before a final decision is made in the summer.

The provisional timeline sets out that elections to the new unitary authorities would be held in May 2027 before taking over from the current councils in 2028.