The Labour leader of North Herts Council, Cllr Daniel Allen, has thrown his weight behind plans for Hertfordshire's 11 existing councils to be replaced by four new unitary authorities.

A Government-led reorganisation is set to see Hertfordshire County Council and the 10 district and borough councils abolished and unitary authorities created instead.

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

In Hertfordshire, a 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. 

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Allen said he wants to see the four-unitary option brought forward.

That would see most of North Herts brought into a Central Hertfordshire authority that also covered Stevenage and Welwyn Hatfield – though wards covering Royston, Arbury, and Weston & Sandon would instead join an Eastern Hertfordshire authority that included Broxbourne and East Herts.

The new Central Hertfordshire authority would cover a population of around 321,000 and have 89 councillors. 

Financial modelling suggests the four-unitary option would save a total of £124m over the first 10 years when compared to the current system of local government.

Cllr Allen said he believes the option for four unitaries would offer the best "representation of residents".

"When you read what residents say, they're most worried about a lack of local representation, and they're worried about not knowing who is going to be controlling their different services.

"We've done surveys with members of the public, and the four unitary is the one that comes out as the one that is most wanted."

He sees the three options for the future of local government as presenting trade-offs between either making larger cost savings – the two-unitary option would be expected to save between £366m and £418m over the first 10 years – or having greater local accountability. 

Cllr Allen said: "You'll still get cost savings with the four-unitary option. Obviously, you won't get anywhere near as much – about half as much – as with the two-unitary option, and you won't get as much as with the three.

"But, at the end of the day, you do still make savings, and I genuinely believe that I would rather see proper representation of our residents than massive savings.

"With four, you'll be able to do things differently, so we'll have much more flexibility in the way that we run services.

"One of the big problems at the moment is because of the number of people being looked after by the county council – 1.2 million – they can't be flexible in their working.

"When you've got smaller unitaries, you can do things in a completely unique way."

It would allow a Central Hertfordshire authority, for example, with several large towns, hospitals and a university, to take different approaches to policy areas than a more rural part of the county.

And, while some council leaders are unhappy that local government reorganisation is happening at all, Cllr Allen said he believes the residents of North Herts would be better served by the four-unitary option than they are by the existing two-tier system of local government.

"It'll be easier for residents to know who is representing them, to be able to contact people, to be able to see the way that services are run, and to have flexible services as well," he said. 

One area where Cllr Allen thinks the reorganisation is "wonderful and exciting" is housing.

He said: "For the first time in thirty-odd years, we'll be able to have our own council houses.

"When we have the big development north of Baldock with 3,000 new homes [for example], we'll be able to get hundreds of new council houses run by the councils.

"It's one of the things that excites me most."

All the council homes in North Herts were previously transferred to a housing association, while Stevenage Borough Council and Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council both retained their council housing stocks. 

Cllr Allen believes the four-unitary option would also have benefits for "placemaking", and that it "makes sense" to have a Central Hertfordshire authority running up the A1 and the East Coast Main Line.

"Commuting areas all run through there. You've got the two main hospitals and the university.

"It's where kids go to college, that's where they commute to.

"It works for the other areas as well. If you look at St Albans and Dacorum, they're separated in the three-unitary option. That makes no sense whatsoever because those two areas look to each other.

"The four-unitary option is, geographically, the right choice."

North Herts councillors will vote on their preferred option for local government reorganisation at a special meeting on Thursday, November 13, with a final decision on North Herts Council's preference to be made at a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday, November 19.

A Government consultation on the proposals for local government reorganisation in Hertfordshire is expected in spring next year, with a decision made by the Government in the summer.

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