The Government is reviewing the structure of local government in
Suffolk. It has indicated that it prefers unitary authorities
– one council running all services for a wide area – rather than
the existing system of county and district councils. The
Government asked the Boundary Committee to identify potential
options and propose a new unitary structure. The
Boundary Committee announced its draft proposal on 7 July
and it is undertaking a 12-week consultation period which ends on
26 September.
The draft proposal
The Boundary Committee's draft proposal for Suffolk is an Ipswich
and Felixstowe unitary and a Suffolk unitary authority comprising
the rest of the county apart from the Lowestoft area.
The Boundary Committee also sees "merit" in a whole Suffolk
unitary, minus the Lowestoft area, which could be an alternative to
the above proposal.
We are consulting on these ideas and now is your opportunity
to air your views. Public meetings have been held and we are
posting consultation forms to residents. You can
either complete and return the form to the prepaid address supplied
with it, or you can complete the consultation
online.
Please let us know your views by 31 August. Alternatively,
you can submit your views direct to the Boundary Committee until
26 September.
Please email
bestforthewest@forest-heath.gov.uk
with any other comments or for more information.
More information
You can read all about
unitary councils here.
A unitary council must:
- provide strong, effective and accountable leadership
- empower citizens and communities
- deliver value for money
- have wide support and the change must be affordable.
A unitary council would bring together all district and county
services.
Forest Heath District Council's recommendation
At a Council meeting on 9 April, councillors voted in favour of two
unitary councils based on east and west Suffolk. More details
are available in our
news release. We submitted our
Concept for Unitary Local Government in
Suffolk to the Boundary Committee for consideration during
its initial work.