The Green group at Suffolk County Council have today criticised the decision by the government to withdraw the current plans for Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in the county.
The LGR plans for Suffolk’s councils will now be subject to a review, and elections for the new unitary authorities in May 2027 will now no longer happen.
The Greens, who form the official opposition at Suffolk County Council, had long been wary of unitary councils taking local decisions further from Suffolk’s communities, but had been supportive of a three unitary option against the alternative of one mega-council for the whole county, while arguing in favour of true devolution where decisions would be made closer to communities rather than further away.
Suffolk was due to move from a two-tier model (county councils and districts/boroughs) to a model of three unitary councils which would provide all council services for each area. The government announced on Monday afternoon that it was ‘withdrawing’ these plans for Suffolk and a number of other areas in England including Hampshire, Essex and Norfolk.
The Reform UK group at Suffolk County Council, who gained power in the local elections in May of this year, announced they would be challenging the legal basis of the government’s decision to set up three unitary councils in Suffolk. A number of other councils had also sought to challenge the government legally.
Andrew Stringer, Leader of the Greens and their spokesperson for Local Government and Devolution, said:
“We find this reversal very frustrating, not only because of the amount of time and money already spent by Suffolk councils to bring services together, but because the challenges of delivering local government services still remain – from adult social care to fixing potholes, education and SEND to alleviating local flooding.
All of these are essential for residents and deserve a sustainable financial footing, but under the current system, that is a distant dream.
As Greens we believe in real devolution. That was not what was offered, but a little devolution is better than none.”
