I have been contacted by constituents who are concerned local council elections may be delayed for another year while the Government considers Local Government Reorganisation Plans which could see Essex County Council and the district and borough councils changing to a series of unitary authorities overseen by a Mayor of Essex.
I have received the following information from the Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness, Alison McGovern MP, about the matter:
"I am writing to you regarding the elections your council is scheduled to hold on 7 May 2026. This Government is determined to streamline local government by replacing the current two-tier system with new single-tier unitary councils, ending the wasteful two tier premium.
We are progressing this landmark reform quickly, which will be vital in delivering our vision: stronger local councils equipped to drive economic growth, improve local public services, and empower their communities. I am fully committed to ensuring councils can deliver new, sustainable structures within this Parliament.
We have now received proposals from all 20 remaining invitation areas, demonstrating strong collaboration between local partners. A consultation is open on 17 of those proposals from six invitation areas. I expect to launch a consultation in early February on proposals from the remaining 14 areas that seek to meet the terms of the 5 February statutory invitation. That consultation would be for seven weeks. I remain committed to the indicative timetable that was published in July, that sees elections to new councils in May 2027 and those councils going live in April 2028.
This is a complex process, and we will take decisions based on the evidence provided. We have listened to councils telling us about the constraints they are operating within, and the work that reorganisation introduces on top of existing challenges. Now that we have received all proposals, it is only right that we listen to councils who are expressing concerns about their capacity to deliver a smooth and safe transition to new councils, alongside running resource-intensive elections to councils who may be shortly abolished.
We have also received representations from councils concerned about the cost to taxpayers of holding elections to councils that are proposed to shortly be abolished. Previous governments have postponed local elections in areas contemplating and undergoing local government reorganisation to allow councils to focus their time and energy on the process. We have now received requests from multiple councils to postpone their local elections in May 2026."
The Leaders of the Councils affected have been asked by the Minister to set out their views on the potential postponements on their areas by Thursday 15th January.
With this in mind, I contacted the Leader of Essex County Council, Cllr Kevin Bentley, to find out his views and have received the following response:
"In a media statement issued on Thursday 18 December, I said “The question of whether elections are cancelled or not should be up to the Government, not Essex County Council.
I and the Cabinet of Essex County Council are clear that we shall not be asking for any cancellation or postponement of elections in 2026.”
The Government has given councils until midnight on the 15th of January 2026 to respond to its invitation to cancel elections in May 2026. We will be writing to the Minister responsible for Local Government Reorganisation stating Essex County Council’s position before that deadline."
I am pleased local elections will go ahead in May as planned, as it is the wish of so many of my constituents.
