Can Reform really stop the abolition of county councils?

The government plans to reorganise local government across Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, with a new single tier of councils taking control of all local government services from May 2028. Preparations for the change have already begun. However Reform, which became the largest party in all three counties after this month’s local elections, has announced that they want to stop the changes. Their plan is to seek a judicial review of the government’s decisions. This risks serious delays to the plans, and disruption of the scheduled elections in 2027.

Devolution from Whitehall

The UK has a highly centralised system of government, with many decisions that would be made locally in most of Europe being decided in Whitehall. In its 2024 election manifesto, the Labour Party proposed further devolution of powers from central to local government. So shortly after the election, the government announced plans which would include a reorganisation and simplification of local government in England.

They invited local councils to prepare plans to replace the current three tier system (county, district and parish/town councils), with a two tier one. Parish and town councils would remain, but for almost all local authority services there would be a single unitary authority with directly elected mayors to oversee coordination and strategic issues over a larger area. The new unitaries would be larger than the current districts, but smaller than counties.

As well as progressively transferring more power from central government to local government, the intention was to make the system easier for people to understand. There would be only one council to deal with for all issues, and in the long term, there would be savings, with fewer councillors, chief executives and department heads.

Reorganisation in the East

In the three eastern counties, there are currently three county councils (Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex), two unitary authorities (Southend and Thurrock), and 24 district councils. After consultation with all those councils and the general public, plans were submitted to government, who announced their decisions in March 2026.

In Norfolk, the current eight councils will be replaced by three unitaries (East, West and Greater Norwich).
In Suffolk the current six councils will be replaced by three unitaries (Ipswich and South, Central and East, and West).
In Essex, the current fifteen councils will be replaced by five unitaries (West, North, Mid, South East and South West).

There is to be one directly elected mayor for Norfolk and Suffolk together, and a mayor for the whole of Essex (including Southend and Thurrock).

Opposition

There was some opposition to these plans. In the public consultation, some argued that the new councils will be too large and remote from the immediate problems of local communities. They argue, for example, that Norfolk’s new coastal unitary authority lacks coherence, with services in Wells-next-the-Sea managed from Great Yarmouth which is 60 miles away and culturally and economically very different (in Essex, three of the new unitaries are more than 40 miles across). Opposition also focused on the expected savings which some do not believe can be delivered, especially after the costs of reorganisation and redundancies are taken into account.

The proposals were supported by most of the district councils, but opposed by all three county councils. A study commissioned by the County Councils Network argues that there is insufficient data available to ensure that budgets can be fairly reallocated to the new authorities, which will have new boundaries. There are also issues about who inherits the debts of some of the current councils, especially the very large historic debts of Thurrock.

Reform in power

If the reorganisation goes ahead, shadow councils for the new unitaries will be elected next May, and the county councils will be abolished in 2028. So, the councillors elected in 2026 on the three county councils will only serve for two years, and during one of those they will be handing over to new organisations (although some of the councillors will probably be the same).

Following the recent local elections, Reform councillors now control all three county councils and Thurrock unitary authority, but they do not control any of the 26 district councils. All three Reform groups have announced their intention to try to block the reorganisation. They say they intend to do this by applying for a judicial review of the reorganisation plan. The incoming administration in Essex has already written to the Secretary of State calling for the suspension of the reorganisation while they seek that review.

In Norfolk, the previous Conservative led council had already commissioned a barrister to provide a legal opinion on whether a judicial review was likely to succeed. That opinion has not yet been received. The outgoing chair has described the new Reform leader Mr Bick as “just a Johnny-come-lately riding on our coattails”.

What is judicial review?

In a judicial review the court considers whether the government followed due process in arriving at its decision on an issue. A review is only allowed when all other legal routes to appeal against the decision have been exhausted, and there are time limits on when a case can be brought.

The court cannot question the decision itself. But it can rule against the government if it finds that it acted:

Unfairly in procedure: if it failed to follow required procedures, such as proper consultation, giving a fair hearing or avoiding bias.
Irrationally or unreasonably: if the decision is so unreasonable that no reasonable authority, properly directing itself in law, could have made it.
Disproportionally: if the measure went further than reasonably necessary to achieve a legitimate aim.

If the court finds that the government has acted in any of these ways, it can “quash” the decision, in which case the government must abandon the plan or take the decision again lawfully.

There are two stages to the process. Firstly, an outline of the claim is considered by a Judge who decides whether there is an arguable basis for a claim. If permission is granted, the case then goes to a full hearing. The preliminary stage may take months, and the full process can easily take a year, which would take us beyond the planned date for the election of the new shadow councils.

Likely effect

The Essex councillors have outlined six grounds for such a review: inadequate reasons for the change, procedural unfairness, inadequate consultation, misapplication of the Secretary of State’s own criteria, irrationality, and breach of the public sector equality duty.

However, commenting on these issues for the Local Government Information Unit, lawyer Laura Hughes thinks that a judicial review is unlikely to be successful. She suggests that the plans are not obviously unreasonable, government does have the legal power to do this, and the consultation appears to have been properly done, with the results taken into account in the final decision.

However, this does not mean that a case cannot be brought, and perhaps proceed to formal hearing. While that is in progress, it will be difficult, and perhaps impossible, to go ahead with the preparatory work required for the reorganisation, especially for the election of the new shadow councils in May 2027. Critics have argued that, in addition to the disruption of the work, the taxpayers will have to pay the legal costs, which could easily run to over £100,000.

The three county councils all have their AGMs next week. After that, it should become clearer how far they are prepared to take this, and what the implications might be for the reorganisation.