A Hitchin councilor is hoping for 'radical proposals' from a white paper on local government.

In anticipation of a government report to be published this autumn, Hertfordshire County Council commissioned exploratory work to consider the creation of a single unitary authority in the county.

The county council dossier has suggested that replacing the existing county council and the 10 district and borough councils in our country - including North Herts District Council which covers Hitchin and surrounding areas - with a single unitary council, could save up to £142m a year.

Ahead of the government document being published over the next few months, Hitchin south councilor Derrick Ashley said he hoped the white paper would bring 'radical proposals'.

He said unitary councils were working 'very satisfactorily' in large parts of the country, metropolitan and rural, adding that the public often didn't understand how the existing two-tier structure works.

"In Hertfordshire alone it's estimated that if we went to a unitary structure we could save up to £100m," councillor Ashley said.

"And I do think this is a time we are under a lot of pressure financially – we should be doing our utmost to deliver efficient local government for the people of Hertfordshire.

"So I am hoping that we will see something that comes forward that delivers a simpler structure that people can identify with and indeed saves huge amounts of public money."

Currently the county is split into 10 district and boroughs, where local councils provide a range of services – such as planning, environmental health, bin collection, housing and licensing.

And alongside these district and borough councils, the county council provides services such as education, libraries, social care, highways – and even the fire service.

But under a single unitary authority all the services would be delivered by a single council.

However, leaders of the 10 district and borough councils have already vowed to oppose plans for a single unitary authority – suggesting it would be too big and too remote.

Read Hitchin Nub News for our detailed coverage on the possible creation of a unitary authority in Hitchin and surrounding areas.