Four unitary councils plan is best fit for Norfolk

A visionary plan to reorganise local government into four unitary councils secures the best future for Norfolk and its people, economy and environment.

That's the message of South Norfolk Council and the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk following the unveiling of their joint plans for reorganisation of local government into four unitary authorities.

The document called "A Vision For Norfolk" is a response to the call for unitary proposals by the Boundary Committee For England’s 30th November deadline.

The two authorities believe it creates councils on a scale that people can relate to and that reflects the way in which people live their lives, in terms of where they work, where they shop and the way in which they access public services.

It is based on an approach where accountability and the democratic control of public services are brought closer to the people than any rival proposal, at a price people can afford, by halving the number of councils in Norfolk.

It can be read or downloaded from here: www.south-norfolk.gov.uk/unitary.

South Norfolk Council Leader John Fuller and Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk Leader Nick Daubney have now called on people across Norfolk to back the proposal and send their comments to the two councils.

Comments can go to South Norfolk Chief Executive Geoff Rivers at grivers@s-norfolk.gov.uk or the King's Lynn and West Norfolk Chief Executive Ray Harding at ray.harding@west-norfolk.gov.uk.

South Norfolk Council Leader John Fuller said:

"Norfolk is a large county. Its geography and the way people live their lives demonstrates that those who live in the east look to Norwich and Great Yarmouth whereas those in the west have a distinctive identity that looks west to Cambridge, Peterborough and beyond.

“This is the very best vision for Norfolk, where democracy and accountability, excellent services and value for money can be delivered to local people.

"It is local government at its best, small enough to be approachable but with the scale to deliver. No other reorganisation proposal I have seen comes close to achieving this.”

He added:

"At a time when Government is telling everyone to tighten their belts, they are forcing local authorities to follow a well-worn path of botched health service reorganisation and abandoned police takeovers.

"We didn't ask for this. We don't want it. But the Government now has the power to push this through and we now have a responsibility to get the best possible deal for local residents and business.

"We were set a challenging timetable by the Boundary Committee For England, but we've worked flat out with the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk to produce this excellent vision for our county and best of all, no consultants were ‘hurt’ during the construction of our proposal!

"We will continue to lobby for the current Council boundaries but the status quo doesn't mean no-change. The Boundary Committee should also be looking at testing whether costs can be driven out of local Government without expensive and distracting structural change. At least the Minister has agreed that the status quo will be used as a benchmark to assess the costs and benefits of any change."

Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk Leader Nick Daubney said:

"Throughout this process, our goal has been to find a solution that provides high quality, cost effective services that are appropriate to local circumstances.

“We believe that devolving democratic control closer to neighbourhood areas and creating authorities that are large enough to secure cost savings but small enough to be responsive and light on their feet is the way to achieve that.

“Meetings that I have had with parish councils in West Norfolk and local business suggest that there is strong support for this option, particularly as it recognises the significant distinctiveness and economic importance of the west of Norfolk as a unique sub region, with King’s Lynn at its hub.”

The Vision for Norfolk proposal is for modern, responsive, democratic local government in Norfolk. It includes radical proposals to bring councils and people closer together.

These include:

- Four unitary authorities based on discrete areas, which are meaningful to their residents, in terms of the ways in which people live, move around and work.

- Lean, low cost councils that can deliver significant saving to the public purse.

- A coherent and powerful voice for Norfolk at regional and national level.

- Strong, visible and accountable leadership balanced by a stronger role for non-executive councillors.

- A model of service delivery and governance that provides for services to be shared where possible but where accountability and decision-making are devolved to the lowest level possible.

- Tangible and meaningful community empowerment including participatory budgeting, the transfer of assets to community and voluntary organisations and encouraging their involvement in service design.

The 4 unitary councils would be:

- A new Central and South Norfolk, where the residual South Norfolk joins with a reduced Breckland creating a unitary authority serving about 200,000 people.

- West Norfolk, which would be an enlarged King's Lynn and West Norfolk, the enlargement being areas transferred from the former Breckland Council to the former King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, plus an area from North Norfolk.

- North and East Norfolk, being an amalgamation of the remainder of existing North Norfolk District Council and Great Yarmouth Borough Council, plus the residual part of the former Broadland District Council that is not absorbed into a Greater Norwich.

- Greater Norwich – based on extended boundaries – the preferred southern boundary for Norwich is the traditional historic boundary of the River Yare, with the parishes of Old and New Costessey contained within the City.

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