In response to the Government’s call for local councils to work together, Derbyshire’s eight district and borough councils, and Derby City Council, have been working in partnership to draw up a joint approach.
In November 2025, Leaders of seven of Derbyshire’s district and borough councils, together with the Leader of Derby City Council, officially submitted their local government reorganisation proposals to the Government – to create two new unitary councils to deliver all services to local people in the future.
More detail about the proposals can be found on our proposals page and in the Case for Change document.
This is a complex issue – but the people and places of our historic county have been at the heart of our work to develop a proposal for Derbyshire.
Our shared vision proposes a future where services are simpler, communities feel supported, and every part of our county thrives – together with a commitment to significantly transform the services that local people rely on.
We propose a new structure that:
- Keeps councils connected to local people – big enough to deliver but close enough to listen and respond to local needs.
- Can provide effective and value for money services – with the vision and financial stability to transform the services residents receive.
- Preserves local identity and protect Derbyshire’s historic boundaries, cultural heritage and environmental assets.
- Meets the Government’s criteria for reorganisation. These include:
- Providing high quality and sustainable public services
- Working together to understand and meet local needs
- Creating opportunities for stronger community engagement and neighbourhood empowerment
- Improving efficiency, capacity and financial resilience
- Supporting devolution
Derbyshire stretches from the borders of Manchester to Leicestershire, encompassing diverse communities from rural Peak District villages to market towns and the city of Derby.
Our approach recognises that local services cannot be one-size-fits-all. Two councils will be large enough to deliver efficiently whilst remaining close enough to our communities to understand and meet local needs.
The two new councils will collaborate where it makes sense to do so but can also tailor services to the needs of the local areas they serve.
Opportunities for savings
Reducing the number of councils from 10 to two will generate long-term savings through things like:
- Reduced duplication of services
- Fewer council buildings
- Fewer councillors and senior managers
- Better economies of scale.
Financial analysis within the final proposal forecasts cumulative savings of £167m in the first six years, and an annual saving of £44m from year six onwards – equivalent to 3% of the total budget of all current Derbyshire councils.
Maintains Derbyshire’s historic border
Our proposal preserves local identity and protects Derbyshire’s historic boundaries, cultural heritage and environmental assets.
Creates new opportunity for our future
At a strategic level, reorganisation offers opportunities to:
- Eliminate artificial boundaries that can hamper service delivery
- Create stronger local leadership with enhanced capacity for transformation and modernisation
- Develop more strategic approaches to economic development, regeneration and county-wide infrastructure development
- Improve coordination between local services and external partners
- Strengthen Derbyshire's voice in regional and national forums.
The new councils will also be able to work more efficiently with the East Midlands Mayor and East Midlands Combined County Authority, which guides large-scale investment across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
Meets Government criteria
Importantly, this approach meets the Government’s criteria for reorganisation – if councils don’t come up with a viable proposal for their areas, the Government has indicated it will impose (through legislation) a solution that it thinks will work for Derbyshire.
Derbyshire County Council was not involved in the initial development of the proposals by the boroughs, districts and the city.
It has developed its own proposal to create a single unitary council for the whole of the county. You can read more about this proposal on the Derbyshire County Council website.
Although Derbyshire County Council has been developing a separate proposal to submit to Government, all ten councils have worked together to share information and ensure robust and accurate data is included to support the submission of proposals to Government.
Reducing the number of councils from 10 to two will generate long-term savings through things like:
- Reduced duplication of services
- Fewer council buildings
- Fewer councillors and senior managers
- Better economies of scale.
Financial analysis* within the final proposal forecasts cumulative savings of £167m in the first six years, and an annual saving of £44m from year six onwards – equivalent to 3% of the total budget of all current Derbyshire councils.
*The financial forecast is based on substantial research and analysis but can only ever be an estimation at this early stage and is subject to change.
The one-off investment in implementation of circa £65 million will be phased over five years.
The financial case confirms a payback period of 3.5 to 3.6 years, with cumulative savings exceeding costs within four years.
Each of the two new councils would provide all council services to their area, rather than being split between the two tiers of local government as they are currently.
If you live in a borough or district, where services are split between a district or borough and the county council, it means your services will ultimately be provided by a single ‘unitary’ council.
If you live in Derby, all your services will continue to be provided by a single council, but the area covered by the council will change.
We know that it is really important to local people that we keep disruption to a minimum and ensure that our high quality local public services continue to support local communities during the transition.
We will make sure that all essential council services work together seamlessly. That covers everything from waste collection and housing support to public health and social care referrals.
There are already many examples of bringing together shared or joint services across Derbyshire and we will use this experience to minimise disruption for residents, businesses and staff.
We have not yet taken any decisions around things like the location of council offices.
However, as part of this process there will be opportunities to make savings and rationalise our ‘assets’ including council offices, and we will consider this as part of the development of our plans.
But please be reassured that we are committed to ensuring councils have a strong and visible presence in our communities.
It’s too early to say what will happen to the level of Council Tax yet, as many other factors affect the rate it is set at.
What we do know is that councils which come together to form new unitary councils have to consider how they set a single level of Council Tax that people in the new council area pay. This is known as ‘Council Tax harmonisation.’
At this stage, it is difficult to assess with any certainty the extent of any impact of LGR on particular groups or communities. However, we have looked at a range of data and insight to understand possible impacts of our proposals for LGR through our Equality Impact Assessment (EIA).
Once the Government has made their decision and we are able to develop more detailed implementation plans, this EIA will be reviewed to ensure we continue to pay due regard to equality and inclusion issues.
Council services have an impact on the everyday lives of people and organisations across our communities – and it’s important that local people have a say about how these services are delivered in the future.
Local residents, businesses, public sector partners and community and voluntary groups were invited to put forward their views on our One Derbyshire, Two Councils proposal as part of extensive engagement activity, which ran from 30 June to 10 August 2025. Derbyshire County Council ran a separate consultation too in 2025 to gain the views of residents.
The extensive survey generated a whole range of varied views and responses from residents, businesses and organisations across all parts of Derbyshire.
Feedback included valuable information contained within the ‘open’ questions, which allowed respondents to share their views outside of the structured questions, and tell us – in their own words – what is important to them, now and in the future.
The consistent message coming through from Derbyshire’s diverse communities was that people want simpler council structures that:
- Remain close to residents
- Improve services
- Use public resources and money carefully.
A report setting out the full results of the public consultation has been produced by the independent provider.
The feedback we received from local people, businesses and partner organisations – along with a range of other evidence – has helped to shape our final proposals.