Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is to be abolished as part of a major reorganisation of local government in Staffordshire. The council will be replaced by a new unitary authority covering north Staffordshire from 2028, the government announced on Thursday.
Elections for the new councils are set for May 2027, with the new authorities taking over the running of services from 2028. The reorganisation will see Staffordshire County Council, along with all eight district and borough councils and Stoke-on-Trent unitary authority, abolished and replaced with two new unitary councils covering the north and south of the county.
The north Staffordshire unitary authority
The new north Staffordshire unitary council will cover Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Staffordshire Moorlands. A separate south Staffordshire authority will serve Stafford, Stone, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Tamworth and South Staffordshire.
The two new unitary councils will take on the running of all public services currently split across multiple authorities. This includes bin collections, road maintenance, libraries, housing and social care.
Local opposition to the plans
Jonathan Gullis, leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, has described the decision as "a shameful betrayal". He said the government had chosen to "abolish a proud and successful borough council, end more than 853 years of independent local government and force our communities into a vast north Staffordshire super-council dominated by Stoke-on-Trent".
"Newcastle-under-Lyme did not ask for this. Residents did not vote for this," Gullis said. "There was no local mandate for it, no convincing case for it and no justification for wiping our Borough Council off the map."
Staffordshire Moorlands MP Karen Bradley said she was disappointed with the announcement. "Moorlanders have been clear that we do not want to be part of 'Greater Stoke' but ministers have refused to listen. I will keep fighting this decision which is just plain wrong," she said.
Government rationale and county council response
The government said the reorganisation would simplify who did what and improve services. The changes are part of a broader national restructuring that will cut the number of councils in England from 317 to a maximum of 173.
The north-south divide was backed by five of the 10 councils in Staffordshire. However, it was not the preferred option of Staffordshire County Council leader Martin Murray, who had tried to secure an east-west split of the county. Murray said that while the north-south divide had not been his authority's proposal, it had "clear strengths and is financially viable in the long term".
"We will work professionally with neighbouring councils to make the change happen safely, with residents' needs at the heart of the process," Murray said.