Hertfordshire's councils have spent around £1.5 million on local government reorganisation – before plans to replace the county's existing authorities were suddenly paused by the Government.

The figure has been confirmed by the Hertfordshire Local Government Reorganisation Programme following the announcement that plans to create four new unitary authorities across the county will now be reviewed.

Hertfordshire County Council and the county's 10 district and borough councils – including North Herts Council – had been due to be abolished in 2028 and replaced by four new authorities responsible for delivering all council services.

However, the Government announced this week that its decision on Hertfordshire, along with proposals in 13 other areas, would be reviewed.

It has now emerged that approximately £1.5m in direct costs have already been incurred by Hertfordshire's 11 councils while preparing for the changes.

A spokesperson for the Hertfordshire Local Government Reorganisation Programme said: "The direct costs incurred to date across Hertfordshire's councils are approximately £1.5 million.

"These costs include programme management, specialist consultancy and advisory support, external recruitment and other expenditure directly associated with progressing the Local Government Reorganisation programme."

The councils received just under £400,000 from the Government during the initial submission phase.

That leaves approximately £1.1m of the direct expenditure having been funded from the existing budgets of Hertfordshire's councils.

The Government had also committed to providing an additional £1m per new unitary authority, but the councils say that money has not yet been received.

The £1.5m figure does not include the cost of significant amounts of staff time devoted to the project across the county.

Officials from finance, legal, human resources, communications, policy, democratic services, programme management and data and analytical teams have all been involved in preparing for reorganisation.

The programme spokesperson said much of that work had been undertaken using existing council resources and was therefore not included in the direct expenditure figure.

They added: "Throughout the process, councils have been committed to ensuring that services for residents continued to be delivered effectively.

"The programme has required significant resource from across the organisations, which has at times been challenging. However, councils have worked hard to protect service delivery throughout the programme."

The revelation follows the Government's decision to review the proposed four-council model for Hertfordshire.

Under the plans, Hitchin would have formed part of a new unitary authority alongside the rest of North Hertfordshire, Stevenage, East Hertfordshire and Broxbourne.

Elections to the new "shadow" unitary authorities had been scheduled for May 2027, ahead of the existing councils being abolished in 2028.

Those elections will now instead be held for the existing councils while the Government considers the future of the reorganisation.

Hertfordshire County Council leader Cllr Steve Jarvis welcomed the review but described the way the process had been handled as "a bit of a shambles".

He said he hoped the Government would ultimately pursue an option involving "less risk and less cost for the people of Hertfordshire – if indeed they decide to go ahead with anything at all".

Hertfordshire's councils say they will continue pressing the Government to provide adequate funding for any future reorganisation.

The programme spokesperson added: "Hertfordshire's councils will continue to make the case for sufficient funding for Local Government Reorganisation from the Government, including receiving the money already announced to support the implementation phase."