Suffolk's residents who want to see three unitary councils in
the county will not have their case heard by the organisation
parachuted in to carve up local government following today's Appeal
Court judgment which has set aside an earlier ruling.
Council leaders, frustrated at the lack of local democracy, will
now look at taking the case for East Suffolk, West Suffolk and
Ipswich unitaries directly to ministers, bypassing the Boundary
Committee for England (BCE). They will also consider appealing to
the Supreme Court for a final decision.
Forest Heath, St Edmundsbury and Suffolk Coastal (with support
from Waveney) won a High Court ruling in July. This ruled that the
views of the councils' residents, representing over half the
population of Suffolk, should have been taken into account by the
Boundary Committee when it prepared its recommendations for new
local government structures in Suffolk.
That ruling has been set aside by the Appeal Court judgment
today and the councils involved have expressed their disappointment
and frustration that local democracy has taken a step backwards. In
a joint statement the leaders of the councils represented at court,
Cllr Geoffrey Jaggard (Forest Heath), Cllr John Griffiths (St
Edmundsbury) and Cllr Ray Herring (Suffolk Coastal), said:
"We find it deeply frustrating, and extremely disappointing,
that there will now be no opportunity to make the Boundary
Committee take the views of local people into account. Its advice
to Ministers on the future shape of local government in the county
will ignore the polling evidence which shows strong support for a
proper consultation on three unitaries. The Boundary Committee says
it has spoken to 20,000 individuals and organisations in Suffolk,
Norfolk and Devon which is a ridiculously tiny proportion of all
those interested in the quality and accountability of their local
services.
"The Boundary Committee is accountable to no-one. We, however,
are accountable to our residents, and will continue working to
ensure their voices are heard. We will now take some time to
look at our next steps, whether that's appealing to the Supreme
Court or taking our case directly to officials and Ministers in
Whitehall."
Joint press release issued by Forest Heath, Suffolk Coastal, St
Edmundsbury and Waveney
councils