Council leaders in Hertfordshire are to continue looking at options to reorganise local government in the county, after receiving feedback from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government.

They have been developing proposals to replace the 11 existing councils with one or more unitary authorities, in response to a request from central government.

And earlier this year they submitted an 'interim' proposal that included five possible options – replacing existing councils with between one and four unitary authorities.

Feedback on this 'interim plan' has now been received from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government.

But that feedback does NOT narrow down the options – or suggest which option may be seen more favourably.

And now council leaders are expected to reassess the options, before making a further submission in advance of the November 28 deadline.

Liberal Democrat leader of the county council Cllr Steve Jarvis remains hopeful all existing councils in Hertfordshire will agree on a proposal, before November.

But he says it is "disappointing" that the government did not include greater clarity in their response.

And – pointing to slipped time-scales – he suggests the government may be finding the process more challenging than they had expected and are "struggling to make progress".

"We still need to make some proposals in November," said Cllr Jarvis.

"And my aim is that by that time, ideally, there should be a single proposal from the 11 councils.

"Whether that's going to be achievable I don't know and we will have to wait and see."

The first option included in the councils' 'interim plan' – backed by previous county council's Conservative administration – would see ONE single unitary authority covering the whole of Hertfordshire.

The remaining four options would see the county split into TWO, THREE or FOUR unitary authorities – based around the boundaries of existing district or borough councils.

But, following the county council's change of administration, Cllr Jarvis suggests that the proposal for a single Hertfordshire wide unitary authority may now be "removed pretty speedily".

He also suggests it's "difficult" to see how a system with four unitaries would work.

But he says there is more detailed work to be done in order to consider the proposals.

The letter from the government confirms that £7.6m will be made available to the 21 areas nation-wide that have been invited to develop proposals.

Suggesting that is "not very much" per area, Cllr Jarvis says: "There's a lot more work to identify just how things would work – what the financial implications would be.

"We will seek to narrow down options. Doing this work is not free and it takes people way fro their normal tasks and objectives."

And he added: "None of this is going to fix pot-holes or deal with children with SEND or empty the bins, as the districts do.

"It's a tremendous distraction from what our staff are trying to do for local people."

The letter from the MHCLG says the feedback aims to support areas to develop final proposals – adding that this stage is "not a decision-making point" and that feedback "does not seek to approve or reject any option being considered".

And it says that for the final proposal stage each council can submit a single proposal.

The White Paper does suggest that options should consider a population size of 500k or more.

Three options in Hertfordshire's interim plan include three or more unitiaries – of which two or more have populations smaller than this.

The feedback acknowledges that the population size is "a guiding principle, not a hard target" but says that proposals should set out the "rationale for the proposed approach clearly".

It also asks for details on the impact of plans on services such as social care, children's services, SEND and homelessness.

And it says that new unitary structures must support devolution arrangements.

According to the response, the government anticipates that "on the most ambitious timelines" there could be elections to shadow unitary councils in May 2027 – with the 'go-live' in April 2028

And it makes clear that throughout the process councils should prioritise the services they offer to residents.

"Councils should prioritise the delivery of high quality and sustainable public services to citizens and communities above all other issues," says the response.