Portsmouth councillors have united in calling on the government to pay up for scrapped council shake-up plans, which could cost the authority a high six-figure sum.

Portsmouth City Council councillors have called on the government to reimburse the authority for the costs of scrapped Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) plans.

The full council met to discuss a notice of motion on the costs of LGR, which aimed to streamline local government by replacing the two-tier system with larger unitary authorities, dubbed ‘super councils’.

Portsmouth was due to merge with Gosport, Fareham and Havant to create a “South-East Hampshire” council.

However, in early September, the government announced it would withdraw and review the proposals.

Councillor Simon Bosher, leader of the Conservative group, tabled the motion, stating there had been “no real consultation at the start” of the process.

“Just the typical ‘do as we say’ approach from a Labour government leading to yet another U-turn,” he added.

He described the government’s phrase “pause and reflect” on LGR proposals as “fabulous civil service speak”, translating it as “oops we’re in a legal mess and we don’t know how to dig ourselves out of it”.

He said LGR had cost the council “hundreds of hours” of officers’ time, adding they “have been overstretched and unable to adequately deal with issues that really matter to our residents”.

He hoped the motion would receive cross-party support as it sought to “count and publish the cost of another failed Labour experiment”.

The council’s Liberal Democrat administration legally challenged the government over its proposals in June this year.

Welcoming the motion, Cllr Steve Pitt, leader of the council, speculated that the government’s decision to withdraw the LGR proposals had been because authorities launched Judicial Reviews.

He suggested the government could be on a “sticky wicket” if it continued with its decisions “on the basis that they made them”.

“They could of course go away and remake those decisions and this time write down some evidence as to why rather than ‘I want that one’.”

He agreed there should be “recognition of the huge cost”, but said it was “very difficult to prove” exactly how much money had been spent on LGR because “we didn’t write down every single hour devoted by every single officer”.

Reform UK councillor George Madgwick said LGR had “not only cost us a fortune” but that “democracy has been played at”.

He highlighted Hampshire County Council elections, mayoral elections and a boundary review that had been either delayed or cancelled because of LGR.

“We should remain united on this one, and put pressure on the government to reimburse this council and partner councils across this region to get the money and time we spent back in our pockets,” he added.

Cllr Lee Hunt highlighted that the Reform UK group had been sceptical of the council’s judicial review in June, stating they were against “wasting money” and “reckless spending” if the council lost the case, which could cost between £125,000 and £150,000.

It is currently unknown how much Portsmouth City Council has spent on LGR so far, however it’s understood it could be in the high six figures.

Last year, the indicative one-off implementation costs for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight were estimated at £133m.

Based on its share of the population, the cost to Portsmouth City Council would amount to £15m.

All councillors, including two Labour members, unanimously approved the motion.