PLANS for devolution in England could lead to the creation of a Three Counties combined authority with Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire sharing a metro mayor.

That is one of the many options council leaders will be considering, after the Government unveiled plans in December to shake-up local government.

The proposals aim to establish strategic authorities with elected mayors for areas with a minimum population of 1.5 million people.

It also proposes the removal all district and borough councils, profoundly impacting neighbouring counties like Gloucestershire.

One key proposal states that no council should serve a population of fewer than 500,000 people.

With only around 180,000 residents, Herefordshire would fall well short of this threshold. The most likely outcome? A merger with another authority—this could mean a merger with Shropshire so as to meet the proposed minimum population size.

Herefordshire County Councillor Ed O’Driscoll, ward member for Ross-on-Wye said: “High-level discussions are already planned for January to explore what such a relationship could look like.

“If an amalgamation were to happen, we’d likely see ward boundaries redrawn and a reduction in the number of county councillors. Based on past decisions by the Boundary Commission, Ross could see its three councillors reduced to two—or even just one.

“Although the white paper is labelled as ‘devolution,’ it feels more like power is shifting upwards. Larger strategic authorities, councils, and elected mayors would gain more control, while smaller councils like Herefordshire could lose autonomy.

“Herefordshire, as a unitary authority, which already operates differently from district councils. However, the white paper raises significant concerns for us.”

Ministers say the English Devolution white paper would give more powers to local areas.

The government is looking at creating unitary authorities with a population of at least 500,000 and combined authorities’ areas with a directly elected mayor representing areas with around 1.5 million residents.

Gloucester County Council leader Stephen Davies said the three main options for such a strategic authority includes combining with Hereford and Worcester to the north, joining the West of England Authority around Bristol to the south or an option with Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Reading and Swindon to the east.

“We are talking to everybody,” Cllr Davies said.

“Worcestershire have fed back that they want to get to unitary before they go too far down the strategic partnership route.”

The idea of some form of combined authority among the Three Counties is also on the table in Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester.

The three traditionally agrarian counties share many links and similarities and have combined total population just under 1.5 million people.

The Three Counties name is referred to in many businesses and a royal agricultural show takes place at its namesake showground in Malvern.

And the Three Choirs Festival of sacred choral music, which has been held since 1724, rotates between the three cathedrals of Worcester, Hereford and Gloucester.

Worcestershire County Council’s Conservative leader Simon Geraghty said his authority is reviewing the paper in detail and more will be announced this month.

“Discussions will take place with internal and external partners in due course to fully understand the impact of the proposals, in addition to the outcome of the settlement which was also announced this week,” he said.

It is a similar picture on the other side of the Malverns where Tory leader Jonathan Lester says whatever is decided, it must be the right strategic decision for Herefordshire.

He confirmed the authority is in talks with its neighbours, but one thing is clear, Herefordshire cannot look west to any partnerships in Wales as ministers will not allow it.

Councillor Terry James who leads the Liberal Democrats at Herefordshire Council and led the authority in early 2000s believes there will be a lot of public backlash to local government organisation in the county.

“Nobody is very keen on any of the options,” Cllr James said. “They are going to have difficulty. The public aren’t going to like it. The idea of a metro mayor doesn’t really work for most of us.

“The most likely option for Herefordshire in some ways is Shropshire as we are already in the local enterprise partnership with them.

“But some people like the idea of the Three Counties and their historic association.”

Gloucester City Council’s Liberal Democrat leader Jeremy Hilton said the idea of creating one council across the Three Counties was considered in 1973 but ultimately abandoned.

Cllr Hilton said: “If you look at the options for Gloucestershire there are possibly four or five combinations that would work but again, there has been no assessment over the pros and cons of each one.

“It’s interesting that Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire were going to be in 1973 one county council. There was a lot of opposition.

“In the end Herefordshire and Worcestershire became a single county council and Gloucestershire became another county council. Hereford and Worcester councils were later involved in an acrimonious split.

“There was some consideration about it. All these things have to be fully considered. There are a whole load of anomalies with all the options which need to be considered. Anyone rushing into this would be a fool.”

Both Shropshire and Herefordshire authorities are currently focusing on their cross-country partnership instead of a devolution deal – the Marches Forward Partnership.

Leader of Shropshire Council Lezley Picton said the group is working with consultants from Metro Dynamics to "define the governance" of the organisation and "how it operates with current cross-border legislation".

The partnership is "currently considering a range of options with the ambition" of looking for a 'growth deal' that can be supported by both governments.

Cllr Picton said: "Covering 80 per cent of the English/Welsh borderland, we recognise that the local authorities have similar characteristics and geography as well as an overriding mutual ambition for the region as a whole.”