One of my biggest concerns about the Government’s plans to reform local government in Suffolk is simply the lack of debate, but Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) is too important to be ignored.
LGR concerns the plans of the Labour government in Westminster to replace our district and county council structure in Suffolk with one council covering both. There are currently proposals for a single Suffolk unitary or a three-way split. Town and parish councils will remain in place.
All of this will happen at the same time we are getting a new executive layer of Government, with the creation of a Suffolk-Norfolk mayor. So, my priority has been to try and encourage the LGR debate and discourse required of such a fundamental change.
Of course, one has to be realistic – this policy is ultimately being imposed by a newly elected government in Westminster, and there is a limit to how far the final policy can be shaped. But that shouldn’t stop us from trying. That’s why I wrote about LGR back in my December EADT column. It’s why I will be holding a ‘debate of the Parishes’ in September, with parish councillors invited to Hadleigh Town Hall to hear the cases made for a single unitary versus multiple unitaries, respectively. And it’s why I recently launched an online survey of my constituents to hear their views on LGR.
The results were interesting, with respondents almost evenly split on being in favour of single or multiple unitary options. A common view, that I have heard from constituents when I’ve discussed this issue in person, is that the single unitary option would be ‘distant’. One resident said: "One big government cannot cater to the local needs of local people." Another stressed that what matters is delivery: "I want to see potholes fixed, signs repaired, road markings clearly visible, hedges cut."
But there is one response that stood out for me: "One council for all of Suffolk. We don’t want to be on our own with Ipswich. They have the highest council tax in the country."
This is correct – I asked the independent and respected House of Commons Library, and they confirmed that Ipswich is the highest charging shire district in England. The big question is - if we go from districts and county, to unitary government, will the council tax rise to Ipswich levels or reduce towards the lower levels paid in the other districts?
Yes, the services councils provide are critical, and will remain so whatever final shape Suffolk’s local government takes. However, the argument long made in favour of unitary government is ‘efficiency’ – saving money, so that we can better cope with the huge financial pressures on local government, which will also remain. And yet, residents aren’t going to think unitary government has ‘saved’ them money if their council tax surges, in the event that rates paid across the current districts were harmonised towards Ipswich.
This is why I repeat what I said in concluding my December article on LGR: "Whatever direction we take, the one thing we need to know for certain is that any money we save is spent in Suffolk – an outcome that is far from assured."
If we go through the pain of Local Government Reorganisation, not least to make our finances more sustainable with a more efficient structure, but the savings are then hoovered up by Rachel Reeves in Westminster, we will have a worse position than is presently the case. I cannot emphasise it enough – what will make or break this is the extent to which savings are created, and, most importantly, whether those savings stay in Suffolk.
If we do get the chance to spend the savings we make, we could choose to use that windfall to keep council tax pressures at a more bearable level. Or those elected to run the new structure might choose to prioritise services. But we must have that choice, not see the savings returned to bail out the central government or the new mayor. I’ve been open about backing the idea of a single Suffolk unitary, but the devil is in the detail. Certainly, if a multiple structure meant some of my constituents were better off than under ‘One Suffolk’, it would be harder to side with a single unitary.
That said, if LGR is just Labour’s way of finding cash for their new mayors, all bets are off, because all options will struggle where they will ultimately be judged – whether they deliver visible improvement to the lives of people in Suffolk.
Published in the East Anglian Daily Times.
