Issue - meetings

Report attached.

The full Business Case for the 3 Unitary Authority Model is available by clicking the following link:

https://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/download/lgr-the-business-case-for-three-unitary-authories-in-lancashire/

With the approval of the Mayor in advance of the meeting, the following decision was exempted from the Council’s Call-In procedure in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule C14, on the grounds that the decision was reasonable in all the circumstances and was an urgent decision not subject to Call-In, in view need to finalise the submission of the proposals to the Government by 28^th November 2025.

Members considered a report of Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, Leader of the Council, updating Cabinet on preparations to submit a proposal for Local Government Reorganisation to the Government and presenting the business case that had been prepared to support the creation of three unitary authorities in Lancashire (3UA).

The Leader provided a brief introduction to the report, highlighting the overall aim of the proposals, the work undertaken in Hyndburn to date, the key messages from the case for a 3UA model and the disadvantages of the other models being proposed.  Councillor Dad also summarised the discussions which had taken place at the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 11^th November and at the Council meeting on 13^th November 2025.  He also outlined the case in favour of postponing the local elections in 2026 and the next steps in the overall processand timescales.

Councillor Kimberley Whitehead spoke in favour of the 3UA model, which was conterminous with NHS and Police area footprints.  Councillor Zak Khan noted that most points had been discussed at the Council meeting.  He also agreed with the 3 UA model, but his main concerns centred around the consultations and evidence base and a sense that the matter was being rushed through without clarity about what the people of Hyndburn wanted.  Information available at the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee had only showed the postcodes of consultation respondents.  He asked whether more detailed information on views from particular areas was known, whether young people’s views a had been taken into account and whether the 3UA preferred option discussed some 12 months ago had always been the end goal.  He also queried the Government’s purpose in asking councils for their views on the local elections, if this was a matter solely for the Government to determine.  He expressed a view that councillors serving, even for a short period of time, could still achieve much during their tenure.

Councillor Dad responded that, councillors whose term of office was due to expire in 2026 had been consulted about the elections issue.  There were precedents elsewhere for the postponement of local elections due to reorganisation, such as for Surrey County Council in 2025 and in Cumbria (for Cumbria County Council, Carlisle City Council and South Lakeland District Council) in 2021.  The decision was for the Government to take.  Hyndburn was submitting its comments on this matter and believed that postponement was the right decision.  On the question of the 3UA model, this had initially been considered to be the best option and the public and Opposition members had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 224