District councils have been pushed into responding to a wave of county unitary bids as communities secretary Sajid Javid softens the Government's stance towards reorganisation.

Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe DCs last week announced they would be submitting a joint proposal to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) for tswo unitaries based on a north/south split to rival Buckinghamshire CC's business case for a countywide unitary.