Leader Cllr Izzi Seccombe accepts competition for her vision of forming one new unitary council for Warwickshire is "very likely". 

The government has asked all areas currently served by two levels of local authority – county and district or borough councils – to draw up plans to deliver all of those services through one level of local government. 

While accepting the inevitability of change, the region's councils are divided on whether to push for one county-wide but new body, as advocated by the county council, or to split Warwickshire in two, the south covering the districts of Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon and the north covering the boroughs of North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rugby.

In January, Warwick District Council voted in favour of a motion to spend up to £25,000 and work alongside Stratford-on-Avon District Council to look into alternatives.

They included joining the West Midlands Combined Authority as full members, forming a new strategic authority with councils in Coventry and Solihull, branching out to join a much bigger strategic authority stretching down the M40 as far as Buckinghamshire or heading west to potentially link up with Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire but it was acknowledged that each had "serious challenges" and that "the final decision rests with government."

Other options could yet come forward when the various districts and boroughs rubber stamp their positions by the deadline for draft submissions to government on March 21 but the county's position is that one or two unitaries are the only viable options. 

As expected, Cllr Seccombe gained full support from fellow cabinet members – the decision-making panel of Conservative members in charge at Shire Hall – to push for the county-wide solution on Thursday.

It includes anticipated savings of £21 million per year and the "logical option" of becoming full members of the West Midlands Combined Authority.

In her address, she said she had joined county chief executive Monica Fogarty in further meetings with their counterparts from each of the districts and boroughs affected, "absolutely understanding that this is difficult territory for everybody". 

A cross-party working group has now been established to provide an open forum for ideas and to share plans, even if they are at odds with each other.

"It is very clear to me that within this room we have a lot of people who know an awful lot about county council services, some of them less about district or borough services – hands up, that's me," she said.

"We also have a lot of district council people who know a lot about their service and less about ours so it is very important that information sharing gives credibility to both submissions as they go forward.

"It is very likely that those submissions will look different."

Cllr Seccombe continued to argue that one unitary would be "the most responsive to the white paper" set out by the government, including population figures and the ability to deliver high quality services. 

"We are very much working within those guidelines that the government has given us," she said.

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse leads the Liberal Democrat group on the county council and at Rugby Borough Council, stating that the latter would be "making a very clear decision about what it sees as the future" when all councillors meet on Wednesday, March 19. 

County cabinet member Cllr Margaret Bell also serves on North Warwickshire Borough Council, anticipating their submission would "also recognise that there are at least two options". 

"It may come out with a different preference, it is not known yet but it is possible," she said.

"I do recognise this is Warwickshire County Council's view and as a county councillor I support it under the understanding that I may be submitting something else from elsewhere."