Why elections in Redditch could be postponed

A Worcestershire council is holding an extraordinary meeting to debate whether the local elections in May should be postponed.

Redditch Borough Council will consider what to do in a meeting on January 8, with the leader saying it would save taxpayers £192,000.

It comes after the government offered local authorities the opportunity to shelve the 2026 elections, in order to support the timetable for local government reorganisation.

Sharon Harvey, Labour leader of the council, said: "This is a very important decision and one which must not be made lightly."

From 2028 every district council in Worcestershire will be dissolved, and replaced by either one unitary authority or two councils covering the north and south of the county.

That means the elections in May would result in newly-elected councillors serving terms of just two years instead of the usual four, before the council ceases to exist.

Redditch is the only council in Worcestershire due to hold elections in May, with nine of Labour-led authority's 27 seats up for grabs.

Harvey added: "Having this extraordinary meeting allows for the full range of issues to be debated.

"The cost of holding elections in May 2026 will be around £192,000, and we have a duty to consider the public purse as we enter the last year of Redditch Borough Council.

"In 2027 there'll be a full set of elections to a new unitary authority."

The government has asked for a response on cancelling the elections by January 15.

Leading Tory figures in Redditch say they will oppose any attempts to get the May elections canned.

Emma Marshall, the deputy chair of Redditch Conservatives, said a "peaceful protest" will be held ahead of the meeting on January 8.

"Nine councillors will have reached the end of their democratic mandate - cancelling the election allows them to remain in post without renewed public consent," she said.

"This is being presented as a technicality, but it removes one of the most basic checks in local democracy."

Under the current timetable, elections will take place across Worcestershire for a new 'shadow' authority or authorities in 2027, before the transition to the new-look model of local government comes into effect from April 2028.

The 'One Worcestershire' model is backed by Worcestershire County Council and Wyre Forest District Council, while district authorities in Redditch, Bromsgrove, Worcester, Malvern and Wychavon favour splitting the county in two.

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