Local councils announce plans to KEEP NORFOLK LOCAL

Local councils in Norfolk today launched a campaign to stop plans for one or more unitary authorities in the county. They also announced that their finance officers had refused to endorse the official figures on which local government reorganisation in Norfolk is based because the figures contain significant “flaws”.

Breckland Council, Broadland District Council, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council, North Norfolk District Council and South Norfolk Council have all combined to oppose draft proposals tabled by the Boundary Committee (the body charged with advising the government on the structure of local government in Norfolk) and to launch the KEEP NORFOLK LOCAL campaign. Launching the Keep Norfolk Local campaign Cllr Nick Daubney, Leader of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council said, “Unitary councils would be bad for local representation because they would reduce the number of directly elected councillors by nearly three-quarters and they would be bad for democracy because the people who will pay the cost of change have not been consulted on these proposals. Frankly, these proposals have been dreamt up by civil servants who simply don’t understand Norfolk or its people.”

Earlier this year the Boundary Committee proposed a single unitary authority for Norfolk comprising the existing county of Norfolk and the Lowestoft area of Suffolk. But the Committee also said it saw some merit in two other options; a Norfolk and Lowestoft unitary authority surrounding a Norwich unitary authority (the so-called doughnut option) and a Norfolk unitary authority surrounding a Norwich/Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft unitary authority (the so-called wedge option).

The proposals for change could not have come at a worse time. Norfolk – like the rest of Britain – is facing a severe recession. Cllr Simon Woodbridge, Leader of Broadland District Council said, “None of the financial assumptions made by the government’s Boundary Committee when they embarked upon their proposals for local government reorganisation take account of a severe economic downturn. On top of this Norfolk councils have almost £50m invested in Icelandic banks and it is not clear whether these funds will ever be returned. The proposals for re-organisation would cost a minimum of £20m and probably much more based on experience elsewhere around the UK.”

The five councils are particularly concerned that the proposals have not been subject to any consultation with the public. Cllr John Fuller, Leader of South Norfolk Council said, “These proposals are bad for the local economy and local economic regeneration, they are bad for council tax payers because they would involve tens of millions of pounds of transition costs, they are bad for local services because decision making would become remote and distant and they are bad for jobs because they will involve well over 500 jobs being lost in rural Norfolk.”

The Norfolk councils also announced today that their five professional finance officers have refused to sign the Boundary Committee’s financial estimates for the costs of local government reorganisation in Norfolk. In a letter to the Boundary Committee the officers said:

· there were a number of “flaws” in the Boundary Committee’s figures · the figures do not reflect future growth pressures in Norfolk · increased spending on education and social services over the next two years had not been factored in and would require service cuts or increased council taxes · certain proposed new staff – including new case workers – had not been costed in.

The professional finance officers have asked the Boundary Committee to place a disclaimer on its website indicating that they are unable to approve the official Boundary Committee figures.

Web links

• The website for the KEEP NORFOLK LOCAL campaign

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