Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to decide on the merger of Taunton Deane and West Somerset District Councils.

The Government is currently considering the merger proposal submitted by West Somerset District Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council together with all the representations it has received to date on this matter, and intends as soon as practicable to announce how it is minded to proceed. There will then be a reasonable period for those interested to make further representations before my Right Honourable Friend, the Secretary of State, makes his final decision on whether, subject to Parliamentary approval, to implement the proposal.