WEST Somerset Council has earmarked up to £10,000 for outside consultants to consider the options for the biggest shake-up of local government for more than a decade. The recently published Government White Paper on the future structuring of local authorities has made it clear that retaining the status quo for county and districts is not on the table. Somerset County Council has already announced it will be making a bid for unitary status to create a single tier of government - a move which has been publicly opposed by the leaders of all five district councils in the county . And this week West Somerset councillors, who have yet to reach an official view on the unitary status option which would result in their abolition, agreed funding to provide the necessary background information for further "informed discussion". They also agreed to set up a five-strong working group to meet weekly until the end of January when the county council will formally submit its proposal. Chief executive Tim Howes told a special meeting of the council on Wednesday - called to take a first stab at considering the White Paper - that the council did not have the resources to undertake the specialist work required to make a response to the options. In addition to the unitary status, these include enhancement to two-tier working or the creation of two unitary authorities for Somerset. Mr Howes said the cost of the work was uncertain but was likely to be up to £5,000. However, a budget of £10,000 was needed to cover contingencies. Several councillors criticised the timing of the funding request - which was handed out in a report at the meeting - and also questioned whether, constitutionally, any decision could be taken. The agenda for the special meeting simply stated that the issues within the White Paper would be considered and Cllr Jess Griffith queried whether it was possible for any proposal to be made when none had previously been put forward. Her concern was shared by Cllr Peter Humber who also asked Mr Howes to identify the relevant section in the council's constitution which would allow any decision to be taken. Mr Howes responded by saying he could recall many occasions when proposals had been put forwards in a similar way. However, Cllr Simon Stokes reminded him that the advice from outside experts in recent training on the rules of debate had been that for the full council to have a debate at all, an issue had to have been proposed and seconded. "Although we have done this in the past, we were told that we should not do it," he said. But Mr Howes told the meeting: "Speaking as a lawyer, rules are for the guidance of wise men and the adherence of fools." Mr Howes resisted attempts to delay earmarking the funding for consultants, insisting that the money was needed now. He said a number of authorities would be spending a huge amount of money between now and the end of January when the majority would have decided which restructuring option they wished to pursue. He said he was proud that West Somerset did not have a "five-man team waiting in the wings, twiddling their thumbs" to do the work. But Cllr Stokes reminded Mr Howes that when he had been interviewed for the post of chief executive eight years ago and asked what he thought the authority was doing wrong, he had replied that too much money was being spent on consultants. "It doesn't give a very good message that we can't even do this within our own resources," said Cllr Stokes.