The Government’s current consultation on local government reorganisation in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland contains a proposal that the historic county of Rutland fall under a new unitary council to be called just “Leicestershire Council“. An alternative proposal could see it under a “North Leicestershire Council“. Either name would be to repeat one of the stupidest mistakes of the local government reforms of 1974.
The Local Government Act 1972 committed two outrages. It dictated that the top-tier council areas it created were “to be known as counties“. It bestowed the names of real counties – with histories and identities stretching back over a thousand years – to areas that were not those counties at all.
So it was that on 1st April 1974, the good people of Rutland found themselves administered by a new “county council” bearing the absurdly inappropriate name “Leicestershire County Council“. In reality, of course, this had no effect on the historic county. Nonetheless, in the mess of 1974 ‘county confusion’, to the Post Office, the Ordnance Survey, the media and the wider world Rutland had somehow ceased to exist, literally become part of Leicestershire. The anger this stirred up led to the creation of a separate Rutland unitary authority in 1996.
The Government now seems determined to repeat the mistake of 1974. On 1st April 2028, Leicestershire County Council and Rutland Council will be abolished and a new local government structure based on unitary councils established in the area. The consultation on these changes includes three options for the areas and names of the new unitary councils. One option has Rutland under a “Leicestershire Council“, another implies it will be under a “North Leicestershire Council“. The third option dodges the council names issue entirely.
The Association of British Counties (ABC) advocates a system of local government terminology and council naming that draws a clear distinction between the historic counties and local government. The new councils will sensibly be known just as “councils” and not as “county councils”. However, the use of “Leicestershire” to cover an area which includes almost all of Rutland is woeful. We are not opposed to historic county names being used by councils, but only if that provides the best description of the location and area of that council.
We take a look in more detail at the three options within the consultation.
Option 1 proposes a two-council model. The model, originally proposed by the current Leicester City Council, bizarrely just names these councils as “Expanded City” (an enlarged area around Leicester) and “Unitary Authority 2” (the rest of the current Leicestershire County Council and Rutland Council areas). This lack of naming is unique in the ongoing consultations. No explanation for this is given.
Option 2 is an alternative two-council model comprising:
- A single “Leicestershire Council” covering the current Leicestershire County Council and Rutland Council areas. Almost the whole of the historic county of Rutland lies in this area. This proposal originated with Leicestershire County Council which described it as a “new council for Leicestershire and Rutland“. The Government has pointedly dropped the “and Rutland” part from the name.
- The current Leicester City Council.
Option 3 is a three-council set up comprising:
- A “North” council comprising the current district council areas of Charnwood, North West Leicestershire, Melton and the current unitary authority area of Rutland. This area includes almost the whole of Rutland, Rutland making up about 30% of the council area.
- A “South” council comprising the current district council areas of Blaby, Harborough, Hinckley and Bosworth, Oadby and Wigston.
- The current Leicester City Council.
This scenario was originally proposed by the districts councils and Rutland council. In their proposals the new councils were to be called “North Leicestershire and Rutland Council” and “South Leicestershire Council“. Why has the Government bizarrely truncated these names to just “South and “North“? It is hard to avoid the conclusion that “North” and “South” mean “North Leicestershire Council” and “South Leicestershire Council“.
Should we be suspicious of the Government’s motives of dropping “and Rutland” from these proposed council names? It can scarcely be an oversight.
None of this will affect the existence and importance of Rutland itself, of course, but we cannot allow a return to the flagrant misuse of the name of Leicestershire for a council those area covers the whole of a completely different county.
Once the Government has decided on the pattern of unitary local government, it will implement this through a Statutory Instrument which will name each new council. Shadow authorities will be elected in May 2027. Ultimately each new council will be able to amend its name from that given in the original Statutory Instrument. This may provide the best hope for these councils adopting more sensible names.
Local MP Alicia Kearns has been running a Save Rutland campaign. This aims to maintain separate Rutland and Leicestershire lieutenancies, whatever happens to the council arrangements. This was also explicitly part of the submission for the district councils / Rutland council proposal. A 7,000 signature petition was delivered to Parliament requesting this.
The Government’s response was a mealy-mouthed statement that “Where local government re-organisation might affect ceremonial privileges, we will work with local leaders to ensure that areas retain their ceremonial rights and privileges“. The current consultation says absolutely nothing whatsoever about this issue.
ABC’s view is that the lieutenancies should be re-appointed to the historic counties throughout the whole of the UK. The Government will have to make some kind of decision in relation to the Leicestershire and Rutland lieutenancies. If it keeps them separate then it will be going down the path of having lieutenancies separate from local government. Or is it planning to put the whole area under a single Leicestershire lieutenancy, as it did in 1974? Its silence on this issue probably speaks volumes.
The consultation on Proposals for local government reorganisation in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland ends on 26th March 2026. Make sure you have your say.