Should Worcester City Council join with its neighbours Malvern Hills and Wychavon to form a new South Worcestershire Council?

That’s the idea floated by one local councillor and reaction has been mixed.

When Wychavon District councillors were discussing whether to redraw the authority's wards, one, Councillor Margaret Rowley, leader of the Liberal Democrat group in the Pershore council chamber had another idea.

She suggested the three south Worcestershire district councils combine as a unitary authority. That new council would have all the powers of the existing councils and also of Worcestershire County Council - looking after roads, schools, children’s services and adult social care in its patch.

Cllr Rowley said: “We work so closely with Worcester and Wychavon, we work together on the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) and on so many other things. I think it’s worth thinking about before we start work on changing our wards.”

Worcester City Council’s leader, Marc Bayliss said: “The idea should be binned. Worcester is a distinct place of its own, a historic city with a long history - and it should have its own authority. We work closely with the other councils but we shouldn’t be subsumed by them.”

Worcester’s Labour group leader - Adrian Gregson, who hopes to return to the leader’s seat on Friday was also not keen. He said: “People think with fewer councils, you save money. But the one council has to do all the work, so it doesn’t really save, and the reorganisation comes with a lot of cost and upheaval.”

Leader of Malvern Hills council, David Chamber,had a different view. He said: “It’s something we should think about. Changes are coming to local government, not least the funding that comes from central government, and it is something we might want to discuss. We’ll have to see how things pan out over the next few years.”

Councillor Linda Robinson, leader of Wychavon District Council, said: “We work strongly with our partners in Worcestershire, both districts and county, to provide a variety of cost-effective shared services.No discussions are taking place or are likely in the foreseeable future on a unitary authority.”

The councillor with perhaps most to lose is Simon Geraghty, leader of Worcestershire County Council, which would see half its territory taken away.

He declined to comment.

A spokesman for Whitehall’s Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it was for councils themselves to come up with any suggestions and make a case to the government if they wanted to make a change.

What do you think? Should we have one council for south Worcestershire rather than four?