No decisions yet about the future of Rutland County Council following meeting
Councillors will discuss a possible merger to become a council with Leicestershire and there'll be a public consultation
Last night's meeting about the future of Rutland County council saw no final decisions made on the way forward.
Councillors decided instead they'll be a public consultation before any proposals are submitted to government
Rutland's county council leader feels forced to merge with Leicestershire due already sharing health and emergency services with the county.
I'm going to fight as a hard as I can
Councillor Gale Waller told us:
"Our discussions had been quite a lot towards the east of us because that's where a lot of the economic drivers are and we were thinking - Mayoral combined authority - economy - transport - that's where it's got to be."
"Even just looking on a map - the main road for us is the A1 - for most of Leicestershire it's the M1."
"I'm going to fight as a hard as I can but we know from when council changes has happened in other parts of the country that it's actually a new council that comes in that has the final say."
"I won't be around by then - it'll be somebody different."
"I can't say it will happen - I can say at the moment it's one of my red lines."
Everyone in the community needs to be consulted
MP for Rutland and Stamford, Alicia Kearns was at last night's meeting.
We got her reaction afterwards.
"I'm overjoyed - we came here tonight with one goal and that was to force the council to do the public engagement that they weren't planning to do."
"And to force it so that all councillors got a vote rather than just one person determining our future."
"We were successful".
"I think it was made very clear tonight we won't accept it's one person making the decision - everyone in the community needs to be consulted and to be listened to."
"Luckily it sounds like they've listened and recognised that now."