Supporters
Support from MPs
Christopher Fraser MP (Conservative, South West Norfolk)
“My primary concern is about ensuring local delivery for local people. I have always maintained that the best option for Council Tax payers would be to retain the status quo, and encourage more joint-working between councils to improve efficiency. If these proposals go ahead it will fall to local people, who are already struggling to make ends meet, to foot the bill.
“I urge the Boundary Committee to understand that people in Norfolk deserve better than a one-size-fits-all urban agenda imposed upon them - any final proposals should be put to a referendum so local people can have their say.”
Henry Bellingham MP (Conservative, North West Norfolk)
“I’m 100% supportive of the Borough Council’s campaign to go on fighting this totally misguided proposal which which will not only destroy local democracy, but it also lead to significant extra costs and inevitable increases in council tax.”
Dr Ian Gibson MP (Labour, Norwich North)
“Unitary status cannot be as high on the agenda as a year ago. The priority for councils at this time should be to work together to support people who are out of work not concentrating on setting up new councils.”
Richard Bacon MP (Conservative, South Norfolk)
“The problem with the government’s approach is that there are very high risks and costs up front and any benefits are largely theoretical. The right way forward is to make sure the existing system works better.”
Norman Lamb MP (Liberal Democrat, North Norfolk)
“This whole process of local government reorganisation is flawed. It would be an outrage for the government to go down this route.”
Local businesses
Middleton Aggregates
“Creating a single unitary authority covering the whole of Norfolk would be a detrimental step. Such an authority would be too large and too remote and would lead to a significant proportion of the population feeling disenfranchised from the democratic process of local government.”
P R Lemon, Director, Middleton Aggregates
Palm Paper
“From our investigations it was quite clear that West Norfolk has a distinct geographic and economic area centred around King’s Lynn and that the Borough Council has taken a key proactive role in leading public and private sector partnerships to make things happen in West Norfolk. We believe that it is essential that a strong local government is retained in King’s Lynn, dedicated to the particular needs of the West Norfolk area.”
Derek Harman, Managing Director, Palm Paper
Norfolk Lavender
“Assuming the new authority will be located in Norwich, how will the citizens of Terrington St Clement, for example, receive an equal or better level of contact with local government than at present? If the unitary authority will have an office in Lynn, why will this be an improvement on the present structure?”
The five campaign councils
Breckland Council
“Breckland council tax payers have the lowest district council tax in the country. This can only go up if a mammoth, centralised, unitary council for Norfolk is forced upon us.”
William Nunn, Breckland Council leader
Broadland Council
“Our biggest concern is that residents’ views have not been taken into account. Long term savings have been promised, but not quantified or guaranteed. The proposed reorganisation is set to cost millions of pounds of local money, without any proposals to deliver extra services for residents.
“We fear that in fact local people will receive worse services and pay more for them during an extended period of transition of at least five years. Our proposed way forward is to build on the partnerships and service improvements that are already in place, these are tried and tested with measurable results. I can see no benefits to people in Norfolk for scrapping the current structures and replacing them with a large, centralised one size fits all bureaucracy - it flies in the face of local government serving its communities, where they live, work and study.
“Over 500 jobs would be cut in the proposed model for reorganisation and this troubles me. In the present economic climate, when we are seeing more residents with housing and debt difficulties who need our help this does not seem to me to be the time to cut jobs and create a huge new organisation facing a steep learning curve. Residents keep repeating the same phrase to me: “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” And I agree with them 100% .”
Simon Woodbridge, Broadland Council leader
King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council
“We firmly believe that a single unitary authority of the huge size and scale put forward would be too big, too remote and too expensive. It would be bad for the local economy, bad for local jobs and bad for local democracy.”
Nick Daubney, King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council leader
“These proposals, centring everything on one massive council, mean that everyone in West Norfolk will be paying to lose control of our own district.”
Cllr Mike Tilbury (Independent), Valley Hill Ward
“Ask yourself one simple question - when has a reorganisation ever led to lower council taxes? ”
Ray Harding, Chief Executive, Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk
“We believe that local government should be just that - local. We should strive for effective local representation and a solution that will directly benefit the people of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk.”
Cllr Andy Tyler (Labour Group Leader), North Lynn Ward
North Norfolk Council
“If these proposals succeed, one Norfolk person’s vote will be worth about a third of what a Southend or Peterborough resident’s is worth. We’ll have almost no say at all in the things that mean so much to people who live in North Norfolk. We’re already losing our coastline and post offices, local pubs and buses, and now we’re going to lose our democratic voice as well. We must persuade the government to think again.”
Virginia Gay, North Norfolk Council leader
South Norfolk Council
“Local Government should be just that. Local. Government. And at a time of great uncertainty, when more people need their local council than ever before, now is the worst possible time to spend tens of millions of pounds on a completely unneccesary reorganisation that risks the ability of councils to look after those who need it most.
“South Norfolk is officially rated as an Excellent council. It’s in the top ten nationally of councils to work for and number 2 nationally for the efficiency for which we process council tax collection and the payment of key benefits. As a council that was proud to freeze council tax last year, it’s really difficult to see how local residents would benefit from a change.
“I’m not against Unitary Government on principle, it’s just that creating one-or-two monster authorities in Norfolk would take accountability for delivering services further away from the people who need them the most. And that can never be right.”
John Fuller, South Norfolk Council leader
Comments from the public
Comment submitted to the Boundary Committee
“My wife and I are greatly concerned by your plans to create a Norfolk-wide authority. The idea is ludicrous and should be reconsidered by someone with in-depth knowledge of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, its surrounding areas and not just Norwich city!!”
Comment published in the Lynn News
“I live in West Norfolk and feel strongly that the creation of such an authority as is being proposed and the destruction of our present local authority will lead to less LOCAL government for West Norfolk. I suspect that it is inevitable that the interests of the people living in West Norfolk and the other borough council areas away from Norwich and the east coast will become eroded and our services will suffer.”
