The fate of Leicester and Leicestershire's councils could be decided as early as next week as major plans move one step closer.

Leicestershire County Council's Reform leader Dan Harrison and Leicester city's mayor Sir Peter Soulsby have both announced that they could find out next week what Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) could look like within the county.

LGR aims to simplify existing council structures, with areas such as Leicestershire – which has two tiers of governance comprising district councils and the county council – reduced to a single tier instead.

But it is a proposal that has sparked much controversy over fears it could see the borders of Leicester expand out into the county.

Last week, during a full council meeting at County Hall in Glenfield, Cllr Harrison said that he would be "getting a call" on July 15 from a Government minister and would be told "exactly where we are" regarding the future of Leicestershire councils.

He said that the council had been running a scheme called "No Regrets" where authority bosses have looked "at every option possible" regarding the different outcomes of LGR.

He added: "We've spent months preparing and looking at how it works.

"The Government understood that we tried to work without our neighbours, and we did try to understand each other's problems. That's what we should do.

"We're moving forward with all these preparatory bits and pieces of how it goes. I've walked in the council chamber a few times and gone 'Blimey, 95 members'".

"We've got to do some big reorganisation in here. Everything we're talking about is being done.

Cllr Harrison said the county council had looked through "every option" and "every twist and turn" and told councillors there will be "substantial change".

At a meeting of Leicester City Council on Thursday (July 2), city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby also told members he, too, was expecting a decision from Westminster on July 16.

He said councillors should expect an emergency meeting within seven to 10 days of the announcement to discuss the changes.

Under LGR, three proposals are planned for Leicestershire, with the county council's preferred option being a single Leicestershire authority and a single Leicester city authority, with no city expansion.

Another proposal, called North, City, South, would create a northern Leicestershire council with Rutland, a city council, and a south Leicestershire council. This proposal is supported by seven district and borough councils and Rutland County Council.

The third proposal for LGR would see two councils, Leicester and Leicestershire, but would expand the city boundary – a plan MPs and many councillors have opposed.

The county council previously expressed this year that it "strongly opposed" the city border expansion, claiming it would require "complex boundary changes, greater cost, longer timescales and higher service risks".

Chief executive for Leicestershire County Council, Jane Moore, also said that the county council did not support the North, City, South proposal and that while the council "supported devolution and simpler governance", she said that it was "not compliant with scale guidance" and that it "couldn't see the evidence around economic geographies" and the plan was "financially overstated".