Councillors to debate whether Suffolk will adopt Government’s devolution plans

Councillors are set to debate whether or not Suffolk should go ahead with the Government’s devolution plans.

Suffolk County Council will host two ‘extraordinary’ meetings on January 9 to determine whether or not the county will put itself forward for a shake-up to local authorities.

If approved, the plans would scrap district and borough councils and replace them with unitary authorities.

As a result, all 75 county councillors will give their views on the plans before a decision is reached by cabinet.

Cllr Matthew Hicks, the county council’s leader, has said that the Government has asked the authority to submit its interest by January 10.

He said: “Changes of this scale create an opportunity to streamline local government, empower joined-up decision making, save taxpayers money and ensure councils are resistant to economic challenges.

“I welcome the positive engagement of Suffolk’s district and borough councils. This is a significant decision and one that will not be taken lightly.”

The two meetings will take place consecutively from 2pm at Endeavour House, Russell Road, Ipswich, and will be live streamed on YouTube.

Under the plans, the new unitary authorities are designed to represent at least 500,000 people.

In addition to a rejig, new ‘Mayoral Authorities’ would be created, with a single directly-elected mayor covering larger areas – such as Norfolk and Suffolk – who would hold powers over strategic policy areas such as transport infrastructure, health improvement and blue light services.

The English Devolution White Paper was first unveiled by the Labour Government on December 16.

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