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Babergh District Council has today (23rd September) voted to support the proposals of the Boundary Committee for England (BCE) to create two new unitary authorities for Suffolk.
Since early July, when the BCE first issued its proposal for a ‘North Haven’ and ‘Rural Suffolk’ council, Babergh councillors and officers have been actively engaging with local town and parish councils and other stakeholders to better understand their views and to develop Babergh’s own response. The Council has also been working with other Suffolk councils to understand the financial implications of both the two-unitary proposal and that for a single unitary across the whole of county.
Speaking after the meeting of Babergh’s full Council, Cllr. Nick Ridley Chairman of the Strategy Committee, said “Babergh has been a consistently strong advocate for the principle of unitary local government in Suffolk. After evaluating the main proposal of the Boundary Committee, and listening very carefully to local town and parish councils, we feel that the two-unitary solution of a ‘North Haven’ and ‘Rural Suffolk’ offers the best available solution for Babergh residents in terms of cost effectiveness and democratic accountability.
“We did consider that there were strong arguments in favour of proposing that the boundary between the two unitary councils should be moved to include Hadleigh in the North Haven unitary area. We understand that to date there is little evidence of support from Hadleigh for its inclusion in ‘North Haven’, but feel for strategic reasons it is right to have considered such an option and we would still be pleased to work with local residents in exploring this option should the Boundary Committee wish to look at this in more detail”.
Babergh Councillors also clarified that if ‘Rural Suffolk’ is not supported elsewhere – even though North Haven might be – they would want urgent discussions to take place either to refine this proposal or to develop alternative proposals that have a broader measure of support whilst also retaining a North Haven unitary.
The Council also acknowledged that should Lowestoft be included in unitary arrangements for Suffolk, its inclusion in the Rural Suffolk unitary would undermine the rationale behind such a council. In these circumstances, Babergh would back an alternative two or three unitary solution for Suffolk.
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