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Dividing Staffordshire into eastern and western councils represents the strongest option available, council leaders have maintained.

Cabinet members at Reform UK -controlled Staffordshire County Council have backed the authority's local government reorganisation (LGR) proposal, which would replace the current ten councils with two unitary authorities spanning east and west.

Opponents argue the model - which would combine Stoke-on-Trent with Lichfield and Tamworth in the eastern unitary while keeping it apart from neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme - lacks geographical logic. The majority of Staffordshire councils are backing alternative models featuring some form of north-south division.

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