County Council urged to save money by dropping doomed Unitary plan

Plans for a single Council for Leicestershire have been slammed at a meeting of Leicestershire County Council.

Cllr Michael Mullaney Lib Dem Finance spokesman said "The plans for a single Leicestershire Unitary authority are dead in the water. There is huge opposition to them including amongst Tory MPs and Tory Borough Council leaders. People in Hinckley don't want planning applications for our area decided by a Unitary authority in Glenfield.

"The government has made it plain that unitary authorities will only happen where there is overwhelming local support for them. There clearly isn't such support for abolishing Hinckley and Bosworth and the other six Leicestershire Boroughs. Tory MPs and many of the Boroughs are hostile to these plans as well as Lib Dems.

"The County Council is struggling financially. The last thing it should be doing is wasting thousands of pounds on a consultation that we know the result of. One Unitary authority for Leicestershire is a dead duck. The Tory administration should drop this flawed plan now before they waste any more money promoting it."