Three-council plan 'will pay for itself'

The leaders of the district and borough councils said they had been working closely on the plans

Plans by Suffolk's five district and borough councils to reorganise the county into three unitary authorities "will pay for themselves within five years", the authorities claim.

They estimate the proposed new structure, in response to government plans to scrap the current two-tier council system, will cost £39m to set up, with savings of £34m per year to follow.

Under these proposals, the working titles for the new councils would be Central and Eastern Suffolk, Western Suffolk, and Ipswich and Southern Suffolk

An opposing bid by Suffolk County Council for just one unitary authority was announced last week and those plans claim they could save £78.5m over the first five years.

Under the proposals, Suffolk would be divided into three council areas

The government announced its white paper to restructure the way council services are delivered last December.

Proposals for how this should look in Suffolk need to be with the government by 26 September.

Currently, Suffolk County Council provides children services, adult social care and looks after the county's roads.

Meanwhile, district and borough councils collect the bins and look after housing and planning.

The government want a single authority to provide all services over a geographic area.

The conflict between Suffolk's council leaders is over the size that of the new authority or authorities.

The Conservative-led county council wants it to cover the whole of Suffolk, saying it this would save millions of pounds and level council tax across the county.

It would see the current lowest rate, which is in Mid Suffolk, paid by everyone. Currently, the figure there for a band D property is £2,114 annually.

The councils of West Suffolk, East Suffolk, Babergh, Mid Suffolk and Ipswich, led by a mixture of Labour, the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and Independents, have a different vision, however. They want to see three councils provide all services.

'Rooted in their communities'

Each of the three proposed councils would cover a population size of about 250,000.

According to the proposals, there would be a £39m set-up cost to separate services such as adult social care, but it would be paid for "within five years and unlock £34m in annual savings, while allowing reinvestment of £20m".

Like the single-authority bid, there would be levelling out of council tax within each new council, with no household seeing "a greater increase in their 2028/29 council tax than under the current system".

In a joint statement, the Suffolk district and borough council leaders said: "The people of Suffolk have made it clear: they want their council and councillors to be rooted in their communities, local, responsive, and focused on delivering value for money.

"Our Case for Change to Three Councils for Suffolk sets out a vision for three local unitary councils, delivering exactly that."

Both the three-council and single-council plans will be agreed by their proposing councils and a bid sent to government by the end of this month.

The government will then decide which one to take forward and hold a public consultation over the winter, making a final decision next year.