Over the last few months, while councils have been battling to support their businesses and residents through the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Somerset have been posed an additional challenge. The Government’s eight-week consultation on local government reorganisation in those areas of the country finished on 19 April.

You might think lockdown is not the ideal time to conduct an important consultation, given that public buildings were closed and no public events could be held – essentially excluding members of the community who have no access to the internet. You might think this is the wrong time for local government reorganisation altogether.