Proposed structural changes to local government in England were set out in the English Devolution White Paper published by the UK government on 16 December 2024. The purpose of the change is to introduce unitary local government in nineteen areas where services are currently provided by both county councils and district councils. The proposed changes follow similar waves of reorganisation which took place in 1995–1998, 2009 and 2019–2023. The process runs alongside, but separate to, the establishment of strategic authorities in England as part of English devolution.
Surrey is currently undergoing a transition to unitary local government. The first elections to the new East Surrey Council and West Surrey Council took place on 7 May 2026, with the new councils operating as "shadow authorities" until they take over local government responsibilities on 1 April 2027.
The government announced how most of the remaining two-tier areas would be reorganised in March and July 2026; no decision was made for Cambridgeshire or West Sussex. The intention was that the first elections to the new councils of these areas would take place on 6 May 2027, and that they would formally take over local government responsibilities on 1 April 2028. However, in September 2026 the government paused the reorganisation in all areas except Surrey.
Background
Changes to local government structures, such as the replacement of district and county councils with unitary authorities, became possible with secondary legislation following the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. Prior to that there had been a Local Government Commission for England to recommend structural changes which took place between 1995 and 1998. Under the 2007 legislation, rounds of reorganisation took place in 2009 and 2019–2023. Several large unitary authorities were created in 13 ceremonial county areas, either by replacing a two-tier county council and its two-tier non-metropolitan district councils with a single unitary council (in Cornwall, County Durham, Northumberland, Shropshire, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, North Yorkshire, Somerset) or by dividing the county area into two or more new unitary councils (in Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Dorset, Northamptonshire, Cumbria).
Summary Status , the status of local government reorganisation across the government's 19 invitation areas is as follows: Reorganisation areaStatusConsultation datesStatutory instrumentFirst election Vesting day StartEnd SurreyConfirmed 17 June 2025 5 August 2025 2026 No. 264 7 May 2026 1 April 2027 Essex, Southend-on-Sea, ThurrockWithdrawn ministerial decision 19 November 2025 11 January 2026 Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, SouthamptonWithdrawn ministerial decision 19 November 2025 11 January 2026 Norfolk, SuffolkWithdrawn ministerial decision 19 November 2025 11 January 2026 East Sussex, Brighton and Hove, West Sussex 19 November 2025 11 January 2026 12 May 2026 15 June 2026Derbyshire, DerbyMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 Devon, Plymouth, TorbayMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 GloucestershireMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 HertfordshireMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 Kent, MedwayMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen, BlackpoolMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 Leicestershire, Leicester, RutlandMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, North LincolnshireMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 Nottinghamshire, NottinghamMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 OxfordshireMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 Staffordshire, Stoke-on-TrentMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 WarwickshireMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 WorcestershireMinisterial decision under review5 February 202626 March 2026 Cambridgeshire, Peterborough Awaiting ministerial decision 5 February 2026 26 March 2026
Decisions Previous councils and final election New council and inaugural election Split districts Text in this article is derived from a House of Commons Library publication and contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Two-tier county District/unitary Surrey reorganisation areaSurrey2021 Elmbridge 2024East Surrey 2026Epsom and Ewell2023 Mole Valley 2024 Reigate and Banstead 2024 Tandridge 2024Guildford2023 West Surrey 2026 Runnymede 2024Spelthorne 2023Surrey Heath 2023Waverley 2023 Woking 2024
Withdrawn ministerial decisions Previous councils New council Split districts Text in this article is derived from a House of Commons Library publication and contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.Two-tier countyDistrict/unitary Essex, Southend-on-Sea, and Thurrock reorganisation areaThurrock South West EssexEssex Basildon Braintree North East Essex Colchester Tendring Brentwood Mid Essex Chelmsford Maldon Epping Forest West Essex Harlow Uttlesford Castle Point South East Essex Rochford Southend-on-Sea Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, and Southampton reorganisation area Southampton South West HampshireHampshire Eastleigh Basingstoke and Deane North Hampshire Hart Rushmoor East Hampshire Mid Hampshire 3 parishes transferring to South East Hampshire New Forest 4 parishes transferring to South West Hampshire Test Valley 3 parishes transferring to South West Hampshire Winchester 1 parish transferring to South East Hampshire Fareham South East Hampshire Gosport Havant PortsmouthIsle of Wight (unchanged) Norfolk and Suffolk reorganisation areaNorfolk Breckland West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk Broadland East Norfolk19 parishes transferring to Greater Norwich Great Yarmouth North Norfolk South Norfolk 9 parishes transferring to West Norfolk,16 parishes transferring to Greater Norwich Norwich Greater NorwichSuffolk Babergh Western Suffolk 31 parishes transferring to Ipswich and South Suffolk West Suffolk Ipswich Ipswich and South Suffolk East Suffolk Central and Eastern Suffolk 25 parishes transferring to Ipswich and South Suffolk Mid Suffolk 8 parishes transferring to Ipswich and South Suffolk,21 parishes transferring to Western Suffolk
Ministerial decisions under review or not yet taken Previous councils New council Split districts Text in this article is derived from a House of Commons Library publication and contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.Two-tier countyDistrict/unitary Derbyshire and Derby reorganisation areaDerbyshire Bolsover Derbyshire North Chesterfield Derbyshire Dales High PeakNorth East DerbyshireAmber Valley 14 parishes transferring to Derbyshire SouthErewash Derbyshire South South Derbyshire Derby Devon, Plymouth, and Torbay reorganisation areaPlymouthGreater PlymouthDevon South Hams Devon(reduced area) 13 parishes transferring to Greater Plymouth,5 parishes transferring to Torbay and South DevonMid Devon 6 parishes transferring to ExeterNorth Devon Torridge West Devon East Devon 28 parishes transferring to ExeterTeignbridge 15 parishes transferring to Exeter,16 parishes transferring to Torbay and South DevonExeter Exeter(expanded area) TorbayTorbay and South Devon Gloucestershire reorganisation areaGloucestershire Cheltenham Gloucestershire(unchanged area) Cotswold Forest of Dean Gloucester Stroud Tewkesbury Hertfordshire reorganisation areaHertfordshire Broxborne East Hertfordshire and Broxbourne East Hertfordshire North Hertfordshire Central Hertfordshire 5 wards transferring to East Hertfordshire and BroxbourneWelwyn Hatfield 1 ward transferring to East Hertfordshire and BroxbourneStevenage DacorumWest Hertfordshire St Albans Hertsmere South West Hertfordshire Three Rivers Watford Kent and Medway reorganisation areaKent Ashford Mid Kent Folkestone and Hythe Swale CanterburyEast Kent Dover Thanet Maidstone West Kent Sevenoaks Tonbridge and Malling Tunbridge Wells Dartford North Kent GraveshamMedway Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen, and Blackpool reorganisation areaBlackburn with DarwenPennine LancashireLancashire Burnley Hyndburn Pendle RossendaleChorley South Lancashire South RibbleWest Lancashire Lancaster North Lancashire Preston Ribble Valley Fylde Fylde Coast Wyre Blackpool Leicestershire, Leicester, and Rutland reorganisation areaLeicesterLeicester(expanded area)Leicestershire Oadby and Wigston Blaby Leicestershire and Rutland 16 parishes transferring to LeicesterCharnwood 11 parishes transferring to LeicesterHarborough 7 parishes transferring to LeicesterHinckley and Bosworth Melton North West Leicestershire Rutland Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, and North Lincolnshire reorganisation areaLincolnshire Lincoln Lincoln(expanded area) Boston Lincolnshire(reduced area) East Lindsey North Kesteven 12 wards transferring to LincolnSouth Holland South Kesteven West Lindsey 7 wards transferring to Lincoln North East Lincolnshire (unchanged)North Lincolnshire (unchanged) Nottinghamshire and Nottingham reorganisation areaNottinghamshireAshfield Nottinghamshire(reduced area) Bassetlaw Mansfield Newark and Sherwood Broxtowe Greater Nottingham 5 wards transferring to NottinghamshireGedling 4 wards transferring to NottinghamshireRushcliffe 7 wards transferring to NottinghamshireNottingham Oxfordshire reorganisation area plus West BerkshireOxfordshire Cherwell North Oxfordshire 15 parishes transferring to Greater OxfordWest Oxfordshire Oxford Greater Oxford South Oxfordshire Ridgeway 25 parishes transferring to Greater OxfordVale of White Horse 9 parishes transferring to Greater OxfordWest Berkshire Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent reorganisation areaStaffordshireCannock Chase South and Mid Staffordshire East Staffordshire Lichfield South Staffordshire Stafford Tamworth Newcastle-under-Lyme North Staffordshire Staffordshire Moorlands Stoke-on-Trent Warwickshire reorganisation areaWarwickshire North Warwickshire North Warwickshire(expanded area) Nuneaton and Bedworth Rugby Stratford-on-Avon South Warwickshire Warwick Worcestershire reorganisation areaWorcestershire Bromsgrove North Worcestershire Redditch Wyre Forest Malvern Hills South Worcestershire Worcester Wychavon East Sussex, Brighton and Hove, and West Sussex reorganisation areaEast Sussex Eastbourne East Sussex(reduced area) Hastings Rother Wealden Lewes 4 wards transferring to Brighton and HoveBrighton and HoveBrighton and Hove(expanded area) West Sussex Adur Awaiting ministerial decisionArun Chichester Crawley Horsham Mid Sussex Worthing Cambridgeshire and Peterborough reorganisation areaCambridgeshire Cambridge Awaiting ministerial decisionEast Cambridgeshire Fenland Huntingdonshire South Cambridgeshire Peterborough
Reorganisation policy The Labour Party returned to power following a landslide victory in the 2024 general election, and in her Autumn budget statement, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves outlined that a forthcoming English Devolution Bill would include plans for "working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas", suggesting that a new round of local government reorganisation could be likely.