Rutland's MP says the future of Rutland County Council is in doubt as she organises a public meeting. 

Local government reorganisation and devolution talks led to a row last week between councils in Rutland and Leicestershire about what the future could look like. 

The larger Leicestershire County Council issued a statement on Thursday saying it wanted to see one unitary council for the city area and another for the rest of Leicestershire and Rutland. The next day, seven other councils including Rutland, issued a response citing their disappointment with Leicestershire County Council and saying nothing had been decided. 

The talks between the leaders have all been behind closed doors, with no involvement of the wider population or public consultation but now Rutland and Stamford MP Alicia Kearns (Con) wants residents to join in the conversation. 

She is holding a meeting on Monday, January 27 at Victoria Hall, in Oakham from 6pm. 

In a statement on her website, the MP said: "I want to hear your views on the Government's plan to scrap district councils, small unitary councils like ours and create new enormous unitary county councils serving 500,000 people. 

"The proposals put into doubt the future of Rutland as a county council. 

"I want to hold a public meeting to ensure Rutlanders understand what the Government is proposing, the potential outcomes of their proposals as I understand them at this time and what different stakeholders are proposing in response to the required re-organisations." 

Rutland County Council was formed in the late 1990s and is the smallest unitary council in the country.  

The authority is currently run by a Liberal Democrat administration and its leader Gale Waller has said she wants to be proactive in the devolution talks. 

Leader of the Conservative group on Rutland County Council Lucy Stephenson said this is a 'once in a generation' situation. 

She said while there is a logic for local government reorganisation, Rutland's voice could be lost due to its small population. 

She said: "This is not the only way to slice our East Midlands cake. We have population similarities with the Harborough villages, with Melton. Is there not a case to be made for two smaller unitaries covering our geography, firmly placing our growing populations at the heart of local democracy?"