Members nominated to form part of the shadow executive tasked with managing the set up of the new unitary authority have been announced by the county council.

Bucks County Council’s cabinet will meet on Monday (February 4) to discuss the nominations put forward by leader, Martin Tett – who will take the helm of the new shadow authority.

Earlier this month secretary of state, James Brokenshire, confirmed a shadow authority made up of all 202 current county and district councillors in Bucks will be launched to implement the new unitary authority.

The shadow authority will be led by the shadow executive – which will be tasked with preparing the budget and setting the council tax.

The shadow executive will be made up of 17 members – eight from the county, eight from all four of the districts, plus the leader.

Cllr Martin Tett has nominated councillors Bill Chapple, John Chilver, Anita Cranmer, Clive Harriss, David Martin, Mark Shaw, Warren Whyte and Gareth Williams to sit on the shadow executive.

Cllrs Mike Appleyard, Noel Brown, Tim Butcher, David Carroll, Dev Dhillon, Netta Glover, Lin Hazell and Roger Reed have all been nominated as deputies.

A BCC report states the members have been selected so a “significant proportion of twin hatters”- members who sit on both county and district councils – are part of the shadow executive.

The cabinet report states: “The members nominated reflect a need to maintain a focus on ‘business as usual’ activity within the county council, a geographic balance and to include a significant proportion of ‘twin hatters’ to ensure the shadow executive has a detailed knowledge and perspective on both county and district council services to complement and support the members of the Shadow Executive who will represent the district councils.”

Wycombe, South Bucks, Chiltern and Aylesbury Vale district councils are expected to put forward their own nominations for the remaining eight members on the shadow authority.

However, the leaders of South Bucks, Chiltern and Wycombe have recently announced plans to take legal action against the government amid concerns over the set-up of the unitary council.

Members of the districts criticised Mr Brokenshire’s “undemocratic” decision to appoint Cllr Tett as the leader of the shadow authority, with some fearing the unitary authority will be a “county council takeover”.

Concerns over “lack of local consent, late changes to what was proposed and the lack of reasons for making the changes” regarding the set-up of the unitary council all forced the districts towards the decision to take legal action.