The District Councils’ Network has responded to the Government’s announcement that local elections due to be cancelled will take place after all.

Councils were in December invited by ministers to request that elections due to be held in May were postponed to free up capacity to reorganise local government.

Thirty councils opted to take up the offer to cancel elections. Their polls were due to be replaced by shadow elections in 2027 for the new unitary authorities which will operate alongside existing councils.

However, with a High Court legal challenge against the move due to take place later this week, the Government has announced that the originally scheduled elections will proceed after all.

Councils which had postponed their work to ensure local elections take place now have urgent work to ensure polling stations are available and elections proceed fairly.

Cllr Richard Wright, Chair of the District Councils’ Network, said: “Council officers, councillors and local electorates will be bewildered by the unrelenting changes to the electoral timetable.

“Councils were assured by the Government that elections could be legally cancelled but now it seems ministers have come to the opposite conclusion. It’s the Government, not councils that have acted in good faith, which should bear responsibility for this mess which impacts on people’s faith in our cherished local democracy.

“The councils affected face an unnecessary race against time to ensure elections proceed smoothly and fairly, with polling stations booked and electoral staff available.

“If election cancellations were deemed necessary to free up capacity for local government reorganisation to succeed, councils will now be asking where this leaves the reorganisation timetable.

“We need to have faith in the Government’s decision-making as we work on the biggest shake-up of councils in 50 years – but the Government is doing little assure us that it has a strong grasp of the huge legal complexity involved.”