Norfolk County Council leaders say they have spent £1.2m paving the way for the now abandoned plan to axe Norfolk's councils.
Now it is demanding that the government gives that money back.
Reform-led County Hall's deputy leader Robin Hunter-Clarke has written to local government minister Jim McMahon calling for him to set up a system so councils can recover money used to prepare for the since-halted shake-up.
Angela Rayner, local government secretary, announced on Monday that she was withdrawing the decision by her predecessor Steve Reed that Norfolk's eight current councils should be axed and replaced with three new unitary authorities.
She said she was doing so after receiving advice from lawyers - although has yet to reveal what that advice was - which came amid legal challenges to the process from councils including Norfolk County Council.
It was part of a pause on local government reorganisation and affects 18 areas across the country, including Norfolk and Suffolk.
While fresh proposals could be forthcoming, a number of Norfolk councils have said they want money back for the time and work spent in preparation for the changes, which were due to see new councils created in 2028 and elections for shadow authorities next May.
Mr Hunter-Clarke, in his letter to the government, said: “Over the course of the programme, the council committed significant officer time and expertise to the preparation and development of proposals which will not now be implemented.
“In addition, the council has incurred approximately £1.2m in direct expenditure attributable solely to the local government reorganisation process. These costs have been borne entirely by Norfolk taxpayers.”
The government, when it made its three council decision - for Greater Norwich City, West Norfolk and East Norfolk councils - had said £2.7m in transition funding would be made available to Norfolk's current councils.
But, in his letter, Mr Hunter-Clarke said that the council had not received that money.
He said: “As a result, Norfolk taxpayers face both the direct costs already incurred and the absence of the financial support upon which authorities had been entitled to rely.”
He asked the government to set up a mechanism through which councils can recover “reasonable and evidenced expenditure incurred solely as a consequence of participation in the local government reorganisation programme”.
Ms Rayner told Parliament she does not believe money spent has been wasted and that the government remained committed to reform, which could yet see fresh proposals put forward for changes to councils in Norfolk.
But she did tell Parliament: “Where costs have been incurred, there will be conversations with my department, which was allocated money to support local government reorganisation.”
Mr Hunter-Clarke said he was confident the council would, separately from the matter of direct expenditure on the process, recover just under £95,000 in costs accrued for its application for a judicial review into Mr Reed's original decision.
Meanwhile, ministers are facing pressure to publish the legal advice which halted the reorganisation of local councils and the withdrawal of the Norfolk and Suffolk decisions.
Ms Rayner had said: “It is a long-standing principle that the government do not publish or comment on legal advice.”
But Zoe Franklin, the Liberal Democrats’ local government spokeswoman, has tabled a humble address motion in an attempt to compel the publication of that advice.
That was a process used earlier this year to secure the disclosure of documents about Lord Peter Mandelson and his appointment as London’s ambassador to the US, and about the decision to name Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as the UK’s special representative for trade and investment in 2001.
But time in the chamber, which is controlled by the government, would need to be found for such a debate.
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