OPEN LETTER TO WYCHAVON RESIDENTS FROM CLLR RICHARD MORRIS, LEADER OF WYCHAVON DISTRICT COUNCIL
We are a little over a week away from the end of the Government’s consultation on Local Government Reorganisation.
If you have not already taken part, please make sure you do before the deadline on 26 March 2026 by following the link at www.transformingworcestershire.co.uk/have-your-say.
We must not sleepwalk into a reorganisation nobody asked for without you, our residents, having fully made your voice heard.
I appreciate Local Government Reorganisation is not the most fascinating or easy to understand subject, but it is monumentally important. The implications of this decision will determine the future success of the place we all call home for a generation or more, as well as the services we all rely on every day.
Put simply, the Government wants to sweep away all existing district councils – and Worcestershire County Council – and replace them with a single council for Worcestershire or a North Worcestershire Council and a South Worcestershire Council.
We do not want this change. We believe Wychavon has proven over the last 50 years or more the difference we can make to a place through the millions of pounds invested in communities, the building of a much-needed local hospital, boosting our businesses, and enhancing our environment. We want to go on making a difference to the lives of everyone who lives, works and visits our amazing district. But the Government has decided we won’t be allowed to do that.
So, if we must have this change, then we believe the creation of a South Worcestershire Council - part of the Transforming Worcestershire proposal – is the only option with any real chance of preserving everything we have built together over more than half a century.
It would better reflect local identity and keep decision-making close to the communities we serve. It will be fairer on Council Tax and avoid the significant increases we have seen approved in other councils. Crucially, it offers a genuine opportunity to transform key services like adult social care, moving from crisis to prevention, improving outcomes for people, and securing long-term financial stability.
Above all, two councils is the option you said loud and clear was what you wanted during the Shape Worcestershire engagement last summer.
You used your voice then, and I urge you to do so again now - but this time directly to the Government.
The consultation survey asks for some background information and then your views on One Worcestershire (Worcestershire County Council and Wyre Forest District Council’s preferred option) and then Transforming Worcestershire (the option backed by Wychavon, Malvern Hills, Worcester, Redditch and Bromsgrove councils to create a new unitary council in the north and another in the south).
Once the consultation has ended, the Government will make a decision, expected in June or July. This will impact the future of local services, local identity and local communities for decades.
Please do not let them make that decision without your voice being heard.
Best wishes,
Cllr Richard Morris, Leader of Wychavon District Council