The government believes that devolution over a large area, at the same time as LGR, can boost the economy and deliver better public services.
They think that simpler local government structures will:
Reorganisation isn’t mandatory but the white paper sets out the case for it and invites places to come forward with proposals.
Greater Essex refers to the combined area represented by Essex County Council, Southend-on-Sea City Council, and Thurrock Council.
All 15 councils in Essex would be replaced with a number of unitary councils.
The white paper has stipulated the government thinks the optimum size for new unitary councils to be at least 500,000 people. However, they have also suggested flexibility on this number.
Devolution is about transferring powers and funding from government to local areas. This gives them powers and funding that they don't currently have.
LGR aims to simplify and reduce the number of councils across the country. It will create larger unitary councils, which means:
Unitary councils are responsible for all council services in an area. Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock are examples of a unitary council.
You can find out more about devolution in Greater Essex, including information about a Mayoral Combined Authority on the Essex County Council website.
All the same council services would still be provided, but by a newly formed and larger unitary authority. This new council would cover a wider area than just the one district or city. It would be one of several newly formed councils in Greater Essex, replacing:
The shape of a new local government structure in Greater Essex is yet to be determined. The government invited the councils in Greater Essex to submit a proposal for how we could reorganise current structures.
The initial interim proposals for LGR were submitted to government in March. Feedback has been provided by government on these interim proposals. Read the government's feedback on the interim proposals on the Essex County Council website.
The government will review the final proposals and decide later this year. At this stage, there is no confirmation of how many councils there will be in the future.
Along with partners, we are gathering evidence to inform the final business cases. These will be shared with government in September.
For now, nothing has changed. Services at all councils will continue to be delivered as normal, and our priority remains delivering these services to the highest standard possible.
This will be part of our LGR proposal. Devolution and LGR create opportunities to transform and improve services.
We will prioritise the delivery of high-quality public services to the local community.
We submitted an interim proposal on 21 March 2025 and now must submit final proposals by 26 September 2025.
The timeline for the full process depends on the government's decisions about the proposals they receive. If our proposals are agreed there will be a public consultation in 2025/2026. Elections to new shadow unitary councils could be expected in May 2027. New unitary councils could go fully live in April 2028.
Later in the year, the government will run a public consultation on LGR in Greater Essex, as required by law. Information about the consultation will be available on this website when it launches.