Commons approves unitary status

The county council and five district and borough councils will go

Shropshire's move to unitary status has been rubber-stamped by MPs.

The county council and five district and borough councils will be scrapped and replaced with a single authority, alongside Telford's existing authority.

A House of Commons vote over the restructuring was put back from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The move was expected to be approved despite no decision having been made on a High Court challenge to the government's decision.

The county's unitary status was due to have been discussed on Tuesday afternoon, but was overtaken by debate over the bill to allow nationalisation of Northern Rock bank.

Plan 'saves £9m'

Now the motion has been passed, elections for the new council are expected to be held in Shropshire in May 2009.

Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council and Congleton Borough Council, in Cheshire, had argued the government acted unlawfully when inviting bids for unitary status from authorities.

This was rejected at the original court hearing in September but the result of an appeal by the authorities is still pending.

The latest opposition against the plans for Shropshire in the Commons are being led by Shrewsbury's Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski.

Local Government Minister John Healey told the Commons that having a single authority in Shropshire would save £9m a year - the equivalent of a £93 per household for Band D properties.