One unitary authority for Suffolk not an option for East Suffolk leaders
Political leaders in east Suffolk are ruling out suggestions of a single unitary authority for Suffolk.Plans to draw up initial suggestions on how to reorganise local councils and bring devolution to the county are due before government at the end of March.It is because Suffolk and Norfolk have been fast tracked for devolution, which means the county would share a mayor with Norfolk, and existing councils would be scrapped and replaced with a number of unitary authorities. East Suffolk Council leader Caroline Topping said: "I am certainly not looking for a single unitary for Suffolk, two or three unitaries please, is what we are looking for."
The government announced in December it wanted to have the largest shake-up of local government in 50 years with their white paper on devolution. It would see more money and powers coming to areas with a mayor, and two-tier council systems, like the one we have in Suffolk, being dismantled and replaced with unitary authorities which would provide all services. Suffolk will be sharing a mayor with Norfolk but negotiations of how many authorities the county will end up with are on going. These new unitary authorities need to serve a population of at least 500,000.With a population of nearly 800,000 in Suffolk, the maths tell us there should be two, but politicians are arguing that with population growth over the next twenty years, it could be three. Ipswich borough councillors have already set out there stall, deciding last week they would be proposing a Greater Ipswich authority. Topping, who is also leader of the Green group, said: "No-one I have spoken to, bar Suffolk County Council's admiration, think a single unitary is a good idea."I am not happy with that suggestion and there are other suggestions on the table like the East-West split."Topping added: "All the options are still on the table. The county council, the districts and borough have engaged a consult to run the numbers. We need to make sure when we go to the government that we have a credible plan."
What are the other parties saying in East Suffolk?
Mark Jepson, group leader for the Conservatives at East Suffolk Council, said: "I am very proud at what East Suffolk as a new authority has delivered over the last six years, and if there's a way we can preserve our identity I would be keen to explore those options."Labour group leader at the council, Peter Byatt, said: "Our group are concerned about there being a whole Suffolk unitary, we don't feel that is the best route."Tony Love is the interim chairman of Suffolk Coastal for Reform, and is against the idea of a greater Ipswich area."Voters in Felixstowe and Woodbridge would be appalled to be bundled in with the very sad problems in Ipswich," he said.Paul Ashton, group leader for the Liberal Democrats at East Suffolk and deputy leader of the council, said he was "not in favour" of a single unitary authority for Suffolk.
Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, the Labour MP for Suffolk Coastal, said: "The Suffolk coast is a net contributor to the Suffolk economy. "Does a 'Greater Ipswich' work for East Suffolk and Suffolk Coastal? If it approaches the problem by asking, 'What's good for Ipswich?" then I suspect it won't. "If we approach the problem by asking, "What's good for Suffolk and driving the regional economy," I imagine the answer puts East Suffolk more in the driving seat. "
What happens next?
As Suffolk is part of the Devolution Priority Programme, the reorganisation and devolution is happening quickly, and new structures could be in place by May 2026. Below is a timeline as the BBC understands it:March 2025 - Suffolk councils to agree and submit by 21 March their interim suggestions of how councils in the county should reorganise themselves.May 2025 - Suffolk County Council elections postponedAutumn 2025 - final plans for Suffolk's authorities sent to government for approvalMay 2026 - Mayoral elections for Suffolk and NorfolkMay 2026 - Shadow authority elections for new agreed authorities
East Suffolk Council is having a by-election on 27 February - a full list of candidates is available on their website.
Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
North Wales Chronicle
an hour ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Home Office plans to spend £2.2bn of foreign aid on asylum support this year
The amount of overseas development assistance (ODA) budgeted by the Home Office – which is largely used to cover accommodation costs such as hotels for asylum seekers – is slightly less than the £2.3 billion it spent in 2024/25. International rules allow countries to count first-year costs of supporting refugees as overseas development assistance (ODA). The figures, first reported by the BBC, were published in recent days on the Home Office website. The Home Office said it is 'urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs' which will cut the amount spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. It also said it was expected to have saved £500 million in asylum support costs in the last financial year, and that this had saved £200 million in ODA which had been passed back to the Treasury. A total of 32,345 asylum seekers were being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March this year. This figure is down 15% from the end of December, when the total was 38,079, and 6% lower than the 34,530 at the same point a year earlier. Asylum seekers and their families are housed in temporary accommodation if they are waiting for the outcome of a claim or an appeal and have been assessed as not being able to support themselves independently. They are housed in hotels if there is not enough space in accommodation provided by local authorities or other organisations. Labour has previously said it is 'committed to end the use of asylum hotels over time', adding that under the previous Conservative government at one stage 'more than 400 hotels were in use and almost £9 million per day was being spent'. Jo White, chairwoman of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday: 'We need to be looking at things like ECHR article eight. I don't think anything's off the table … including looking at new options such as processing abroad. 'So, we have to be open to see how we can move move that backlog as quickly as possible. I'm getting impatient. 'I know my colleagues in parliament are getting impatient and we're pressing the Government as hard as we can on this.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We inherited an asylum system under exceptional pressure and are urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs. 'This will ultimately reduce the amount of official development assistance spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. 'We are immediately speeding up decisions and increasing returns so that we can end the use of hotels and save the taxpayer £4 billion by 2026. 'The Rwanda scheme also wasted £700 million to remove just four volunteers – instead, we have surged removals to nearly 30,000 since the election, are giving law enforcement new counter-terror style powers, and increasing intelligence sharing through our Border Security Command to tackle the heart of the issue, vile people-smuggling gangs.'
Leader Live
an hour ago
- Leader Live
Home Office plans to spend £2.2bn of foreign aid on asylum support this year
The amount of overseas development assistance (ODA) budgeted by the Home Office – which is largely used to cover accommodation costs such as hotels for asylum seekers – is slightly less than the £2.3 billion it spent in 2024/25. International rules allow countries to count first-year costs of supporting refugees as overseas development assistance (ODA). The figures, first reported by the BBC, were published in recent days on the Home Office website. The Home Office said it is 'urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs' which will cut the amount spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. It also said it was expected to have saved £500 million in asylum support costs in the last financial year, and that this had saved £200 million in ODA which had been passed back to the Treasury. A total of 32,345 asylum seekers were being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March this year. This figure is down 15% from the end of December, when the total was 38,079, and 6% lower than the 34,530 at the same point a year earlier. Asylum seekers and their families are housed in temporary accommodation if they are waiting for the outcome of a claim or an appeal and have been assessed as not being able to support themselves independently. They are housed in hotels if there is not enough space in accommodation provided by local authorities or other organisations. Labour has previously said it is 'committed to end the use of asylum hotels over time', adding that under the previous Conservative government at one stage 'more than 400 hotels were in use and almost £9 million per day was being spent'. Jo White, chairwoman of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday: 'We need to be looking at things like ECHR article eight. I don't think anything's off the table … including looking at new options such as processing abroad. 'So, we have to be open to see how we can move move that backlog as quickly as possible. I'm getting impatient. 'I know my colleagues in parliament are getting impatient and we're pressing the Government as hard as we can on this.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We inherited an asylum system under exceptional pressure and are urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs. 'This will ultimately reduce the amount of official development assistance spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. 'We are immediately speeding up decisions and increasing returns so that we can end the use of hotels and save the taxpayer £4 billion by 2026. 'The Rwanda scheme also wasted £700 million to remove just four volunteers – instead, we have surged removals to nearly 30,000 since the election, are giving law enforcement new counter-terror style powers, and increasing intelligence sharing through our Border Security Command to tackle the heart of the issue, vile people-smuggling gangs.'
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Home Office plans to spend £2.2bn of foreign aid on asylum support this year
The amount of overseas development assistance (ODA) budgeted by the Home Office – which is largely used to cover accommodation costs such as hotels for asylum seekers – is slightly less than the £2.3 billion it spent in 2024/25. International rules allow countries to count first-year costs of supporting refugees as overseas development assistance (ODA). The figures, first reported by the BBC, were published in recent days on the Home Office website. The Home Office said it is 'urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs' which will cut the amount spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. It also said it was expected to have saved £500 million in asylum support costs in the last financial year, and that this had saved £200 million in ODA which had been passed back to the Treasury. A total of 32,345 asylum seekers were being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March this year. This figure is down 15% from the end of December, when the total was 38,079, and 6% lower than the 34,530 at the same point a year earlier. Asylum seekers and their families are housed in temporary accommodation if they are waiting for the outcome of a claim or an appeal and have been assessed as not being able to support themselves independently. They are housed in hotels if there is not enough space in accommodation provided by local authorities or other organisations. Labour has previously said it is 'committed to end the use of asylum hotels over time', adding that under the previous Conservative government at one stage 'more than 400 hotels were in use and almost £9 million per day was being spent'. Jo White, chairwoman of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday: 'We need to be looking at things like ECHR article eight. I don't think anything's off the table … including looking at new options such as processing abroad. 'So, we have to be open to see how we can move move that backlog as quickly as possible. I'm getting impatient. 'I know my colleagues in parliament are getting impatient and we're pressing the Government as hard as we can on this.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We inherited an asylum system under exceptional pressure and are urgently taking action to restore order and reduce costs. 'This will ultimately reduce the amount of official development assistance spent to support asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. 'We are immediately speeding up decisions and increasing returns so that we can end the use of hotels and save the taxpayer £4 billion by 2026. 'The Rwanda scheme also wasted £700 million to remove just four volunteers – instead, we have surged removals to nearly 30,000 since the election, are giving law enforcement new counter-terror style powers, and increasing intelligence sharing through our Border Security Command to tackle the heart of the issue, vile people-smuggling gangs.'
