COUNTY council chiefs have been accused of trying to buy themselves out of financial trouble by scrapping district authorities.

As exclusively revealed by the Worcester News earlier this month, Worcestershire County Council had looked into becoming a unitary authority, like Herefordshire.

It was estimated that up to £15m could be saved by scrapping the county's six district authorities - Wychavon, Worcester City, Malvern Hills, Wyre Forest, Bromsgrove and Redditch.

But last week county councillors voted against the proposal, after the council's leader Dr George Lord, a previous supporter of the plan, changed his mind and opposed the move. The county council now plans to invite the six district councils to create a cross-party group focused on collaboration.

However, Malvern Hills District Council Leader Di Rayner said: "The county council has got a huge gap in their budget that they are going to have to do something about. I don't think it had anything to do with working together for the good of Worcestershire but it's got everything to do with balancing the books.

"I've got nothing against unitaries because I believe if they are more efficient and less expensive then we should certainly be looking at them. However, what George Lord did was to issue a tirade against district councils not working together despite the fact that three of them are working together quite well on all sorts of issues."

Most other district council leaders said they were glad the plan had been abandoned. Bromsgrove District Council's executive leader Roger Hollingsworth said: "I think the services the district council provides are important and they need to be local, not centralised."

Wychavon District Council leader Martin Jennings agreed: "It was a great pity that it was raised in the first place but sound sense has prevailed."

Redditch Borough Council leader Phil Mould said: "I'm overjoyed that the unitary issue is now dead."

And Worcester City Council leader Simon Geraghty added: "I think we have had a good debate but it's now about making sure we can work much more closely together."

Earlier this year Worcestershire County Council revealed it was looking to axe up to 200 jobs and was reviewing services - including closing two outdoor education centres - in a bid to save £18m in the next three years.

But its deputy leader Alwyn Davies denied budgetary concerns had fuelled the unitary debate.

He said: "The Government doesn't give us enough funding but that's nothing new. We have to spend whatever we are given and we have to do that to the best of our ability."

Coun Davies said the council had already made plans to save £8.22m subject to consultation and approval from Council in February.

Wyre Forest District Council's leader was not available for comment.

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