The Cornish public could have its say on possible cuts to the number of Cornwall Councillors in 2021, as the unitary authority enters a review of its governance ahead of changes by the boundary commission.

There are currently 123 Cornwall Councillors, and as part of its electoral review of the county the Local Government Boundary Commission for England is extending its timetable in order to allow the council to undertake a fundamental review of its governance.

The process will still start shortly as already planned but, following discussions with the leader of the council, the commission has decided to allow additional time to consider the total number of members that should be elected council in the future.

The commission had previously sought the council’s view on the future number of councillors by March 2016. Instead, they will now allow councillors and council staff to make their submission - or submissions - on council size no later than March 2017.

The Commission will announce its decision about council size shortly after the March 2017 deadline and then, over the following months, hold two phases of public consultation on new electoral arrangements. A new pattern of divisions will be confirmed in April 2018 for implementation at the scheduled local elections in 2021.

Professor Colin Mellors, chair of the commission, said: “Local government is changing. Nowhere will that change be more evident than in Cornwall.

“The leadership of the council has persuaded us that they want to use the electoral review process to ask some deep and fundamental questions about how local government for Cornwall should operate in the future and, especially, the number of councillors that will be required to run the authority. They want to consult widely as part of that process.

“This is a very important opportunity for Cornwall and we want to encourage them in what, we hope, will be some far-reaching thinking. We have, therefore, agreed to give them time to put a case together for a council size that reflects their ambitions for the long term.

“We will start work with the council immediately to help them come up with a proposal on councillor numbers and we have arranged to brief members of the council next few weeks to start that process.

“The best electoral reviews are those where we are able to work closely with councils, and with local people, to build electoral arrangements for councils that reflect the changing face of public services and democratic representation for the long term. The council have emphasised their wish to work with us in that way and the agreement we have now made with them will help us achieve that durable ambition for Cornwall.”

The aim of the boundary review is to redraw the boundaries to better reflect the spread of voters within Cornwall, meaning every councillor will represent roughly the same amount of voters.

There are currently large discrepancies between electoral divisions, with some Cornwall Councillors - who receive a basic allowance of £12,249 a year for their role - representing far more or far fewer voters than their colleagues.