'The east-west option simply stacks up better than any alternative'

SPLITTING Staffordshire into eastern and western councils ‘stacks up better’ than any other option, council leaders insist.

- By PHIL CORRIGAN

Cabinet members at Reform Uk-led Staffordshire County Council have voted to support the authority's proposal for local government reorganisation (LGR), which would see the 10 existing councils replaced by two unitary authorities covering the east and the west.

Critics say the model, which would merge Stoke-on-Trent with Lichfield and Tamworth in the eastern unitary while keeping it separate from neighbouring Newcastle, makes little geographical sense. Most councils in Staffordshire are supporting models that involve some sort of north-south split instead.

But cabinet members at the county council believe their east-west option offers the best chance of creating two sustainable, successful unitaries. While they continue to be opposed to LGR, saying it has been ‘ill advised’ and ‘rushed’ by the Labour government, they say their proposal is supported by data.