Local government minister, Ruth Kelly, expects to create eight new unitaries after she opened the door to restructuring in the White Paper last week. And councils not going for unitary status will be expected to create ‘virtual unitaries', making two-tier systems more effective, by sharing functions, staff and even councillors.
Ms Kelly told The MJ in an interview that the invitation to apply for unitary status had ‘strict criteria', and bids would also need a ‘broad cross section of support' in the area. However, she also made it clear that bids would not need the support to be across all levels of local government – so counties and districts could find themselves at loggerheads over the plans. While a short timeframe has been indicated, because Ms Kelly said she doesn't want them [councils] to be distracted', councils in the running will not find out if they will win unitary status until July next year.
Three councils have already launched their bids to be unitary.
The Government has rolled out its proposals for restructuring in an invitation document, launched alongside the White Paper. Under the criteria outlined, the proposals put forward must be:

affordable