Background
The Branch
Committee is asked to determine what the
position of our branch should be with regard to
the Local Government Review in Norfolk and
Suffolk currently being undertaken by the
Boundary Committee.
This follows on
from the unsuccessful bid of Ipswich Borough
Council last year to become a unitary authority.
The bid failed primarily because the current
boundaries of Ipswich made that bid
unaffordable. A similar bid by Norwich City
Council also failed for similar reasons.
The Government
decided that whilst rejecting those bids that
the Boundary Committee should set up a joint
review of both Suffolk and Norfolk. The
Boundary Committee have made it clear that the
Government are not expecting the status quo to
be maintained.
The Process
The Boundary
Committee have asked the local authorities in
Suffolk and Norfolk to produce "concepts" for
them to consider. This process has just
finished.
These
"concepts" will then be looked at by the
Boundary Committee and those which meet the five
criteria (Broad cross-section of support;
strategic leadership; neighbourhood empowerment;
value for money in provision of services, and;
affordability) will then be opened up for
stakeholder consultation. This will happen
during July-October.
Once the
stakeholder consultation has been completed the
Boundary Committee will produce a recommendation
for the Government to adopt (or not as the case
may be).
Any change is
not expected to happen until 2010 at the
earliest.
The "concepts"
The following
suggestions have been considered:
-
A single Suffolk unitary
-
An Ipswich unitary and a rest of Suffolk
unitary
-
An East Suffolk unitary and a West Suffolk
unitary
-
An all or part of Great Yarmouth/all or part
of Waveney unitary and rest of Suffolk
unitary
-
An Ipswich unitary, an all or part of Great
Yarmouth/ all or part of Waveney unitary and
a rest of Suffolk unitary
-
An Ipswich unitary, an East Suffolk unitary
and a West Suffolk unitary
-
An Ipswich unitary, an all or part of Great
Yarmouth/ all or part of Waveney unitary, an
East Suffolk unitary and a West Suffolk
unitary
The Local Authority views
Suffolk County
Council and Mid Suffolk District Council support
a single Suffolk unitary authority.
Ipswich,
Suffolk Coastal, St Edmundsbury and Waveney
reject the concept of a cross county authority.
Ipswich,
Suffolk Coastal, St Edmundsbury and Waveney
support an Ipswich unitary, an East Suffolk
unitary and an West Suffolk unitary.
Babergh and
Forest Heath support a West Suffolk unitary.
Full details of
the Local authority submissions are available at
http://www.boundarycommittee.org.uk/our-work/suffolkstrrev.cfm
Branch view
The branch
needs to consider our position. Members are
being consulted by ballot about their preferred
option.
