When the local government White Paper was finally released last month, there were very few surprises in the proposals for unitary status.

Much of the detail had already been announced. In essence, the Government will look at the business case for unitary bids for councils. But the bids must not cut across council boundaries. They should save money and have support in the area – although it does not need to be unanimous – and councils will have just 12 weeks to put the plans forward. But the invitation to apply for unitary status did have some surprises. It also calls for councils to pioneer new ways of making two-tier structures work – or ‘virtual unitaries'.