Tories win vote for single council restructure

Of the 62 councillors at the meeting, 34 voted in favour of a single authority, 28 against and one of them abstained

Councillors in Norfolk have voted in favour of transforming local government in the county into just one single authority, despite opposition from other politicians.

The existing two-tier structure of government - made up of district councils and the county council - is expected to be stripped away.

The seven district and borough councils in Norfolk have suggested that two or three councils should run services.

But at a Norfolk County Council meeting earlier, 34 out of 62 councillors voted in favour of a single-authority model which would be responsible for all local services.

Twenty-eight councillors voted against, one abstained and 22 were not at the meeting.

The current two-tier system has been in place since 1974. The new system would also see a directly-elected mayor serving Norfolk and Suffolk.

Conservative leader Kay Mason Billig says one single council provides best value for money for taxpayers

Conservative council leader Kay Mason Billig said a single-council model was the "best option" for Norfolk.

"Residents have told us what they want. They want value for money and the best services for all our communities," she said.

"Only one unitary council meets the government's criteria, generates the most savings, avoids unnecessary risks and gives the best outcomes for our people."

She claimed it would save £39.8m per year and argued that the county council already provided 85% of local services to residents.

Other options for two or three councils would "lock" Diss and Wells-next-the-Sea together and Hunstanton and Attleborough would become "uncomfortable bedfellows", she claimed.

"Putting in new artificial boundaries just increases costs and causes confusion [and] costs money; money that could be better spent on frontline services."

Liberal Democrat Brian Watkins says a single authority will serve some areas worse than others

Brian Watkins, the Liberal Democrat group leader, commended the work of council officers in preparing the business case for a single-authority plan - but said he disagreed with it.

"It is deeply regrettable that so little progress appears to have been made in coming together with districts to find common ground," he said.

"Bigger is not always better and mega councils often risk higher costs and poorer outcomes due to both remoteness and inefficiency.

He said there was a risk residents would experience a "postcode lottery" and that Norwich was being treated like a "glorified parish council" that "deserves better".

Steve Morphew, the Labour group leader, said "everyone has bought cheap and regretted it"

Leader of Labour group Steve Morphew questioned the promises about value-for-money made by the Conservatives.

"It's not all about the headline cost," he said.

"We've all bought cheap and regretted it when we should have spent a bit extra and got better value for money.

"A new council model is a chance to think anew, not as this report often does, make it a prospectus for this council."

The new model suggests there will be 168 councillors, and Morphew said there was "no chamber in Norfolk big enough to contain them".

Meanwhile, the Green Party's Serene Shibli Sexton told the full council meeting that shared services between South Norfolk and Broadland had not yielded promised savings and that projected savings for a single Norfolk council had not been independently verified.

Simon Ring, spokesperson for independent councillors, described it as a "lumbering leviathan that would swallow up our districts" and would "centralise power in Norwich".

"This is not reform, it's regression," he said.

Maxine Webb, spokesperson for the Independent Progressive councillors, said amalgamating all councils into one could make it more vulnerable to government cuts and could stifle competition and lead to inefficiency.

Reform UK's Julian Kirk said Norfolk was a diverse county with different needs, and a single unitary authority would not serve people in the districts.

The various proposals for local government change, including in Norfolk, need to be submitted to Westminster by Friday.

The county council-approved model will be assessed, along with the options submitted by the borough and district councils in Norfolk.

Central government plans to consult the public on the options this autumn, before making a final decision by the spring.