Sour relations between Beds County Council and South Beds District Council have made efforts to create a new authority "less effective and constructive", members of the House of Lords has been told.

A report sent to the House by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has also said that the long wait for a decision on a huge council shake-up has left plans less advanced.

In October 2006, the government announced it was looking at areas like Bedfordshire that had a two-tiered council structure with an eye to making huge savings.

But it wasn't until last month that local government minister John Healey finally announced that two new single-layered authorities will be formed in the county - one in Bedford, the other covering Mid and South Beds.

The ruling effectively consigned Beds County Council to the scrapheap, but it has vowed to continue fighting, and a High Court judge is set to rule on whether it has grounds to complain.

According to the DCLG, the bitter power battle between Bedfordshire's councils looks like it has taken its toll.

A report shown to the House of Lords said: "There is evidence that both officers and members from all district councils have been working well together, whereas the Department is aware that relations between the county council and the district councils have been less effective and constructive."