County council leader Martin Tett has branded the current two-tier council system “untenable” and “out of date” following the announcement of an independent study into a new government model for Bucks. 

Speaking about the ‘business case’, cllr Tett said a unitary authority would help “deliver better services” and “make a lot of savings”.

The call for the study comes after central government’s settlement last year cut more funding for the council.

According to Cllr Tett, it now needs to make a further £53 million of savings in the next four years, made difficult with social care costs on the rise.

He said: “Social care for adults and children is incredibly expensive and demand is going up all the time. It is really unclear to me how we can be financially sustainable going forward by remaining split-up in the way we are at the moment."

While Wycombe District Council said it is keeping “an open mind”, leaders from South Bucks and Chiltern District councils, Cllrs Ralph Bagge and Isobel Darby, called the promotion of a unitary authority by Bucks County Council “disappointing” and said newer models such as combined authorities would “offer potentially the same savings”.

Cllr Tett said: “If the district councils want to pursue this option, they would have to describe clearly what a combined authority would do, why we need it and whether it would bring the scale of savings required to keep vital services running.”

He also said he wants to work with council leaders to “agree a way forward” by asking them to put their business cases to an independent commission which will recommend to central government which option it thinks is the best for Bucks.

Wycombe District Council leader Katrina Wood said: “We are keeping an open mind. We have always been clear that whatever direction we follow, it would be in the best interests of the people that matter most to us – the people who live and work in the Wycombe district.”

Former Bucks County Council chief exec Chris Williams called for a “wholesale shake up” of the “pre-historic” system when he retired earlier this year, and has welcomed the study calling it “long overdue”.

He said: “I was pleased that Bucks County Council has finally decided to commission a business case for a single authority for the whole of Buckinghamshire.

“The time is now right to modernise our system of local government to provide a better service for residents, to reduce costs caused by unnecessary duplication and bickering and create a system that is fit for the future.”