The decision was made by the council to pursue the option of a single unitary council for Suffolk at their meeting in March, but not all councillors were in agreement. The council needs to submit a business plan to the government by the end of September outlining why they think this is the best decision for Suffolk.
The county’s districts and borough councils favour a three-unitary approach, and are working together to put forward a case for this.
Analysis of monies spent by Suffolk County Council in the last two months shows that they have spent around £100,000 of taxpayers’ money promoting One Suffolk to residents, even though the decision on how many unitary councils Suffolk will end up with will be made by government ministers.
The spending includes £40,000 to Capsule Marketing, £23,000 to management consultants Westco Trading Limited, and £37,456 to Whistl (Doordrop Media) Ltd for the leaflet campaign, which saw every household in the county receive an Alice in Wonderland themed leaflet promoting One Suffolk.
Andrew Stringer, Leader of the Green, Liberal Democrat and Independent Group and its spokesperson for Local Government Reorganisation, said:
“The county council promised it would engage with residents about the changes that are coming, but rather than providing people with information about it, they are running it like a political campaign and running up bills everywhere to do it.
It’s surprising they are spending so much on it, considering their focus on the financial savings they claim one single council will provide – and also that the decision will not be subject to a public vote.
It’s money they could better spend on maintaining our roads, or improving the service for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which still remain poor and are causing much distress for families and trauma for Suffolk children.
People that we have spoken to about the Alice in Wonderland leaflet were either confused what it was for, or unhappy about the council spending so much money on what amounts to political propaganda. We were promised engagement, we got a political campaign.
The One Suffolk case seems to spend more time attacking the multi-unitary option than explaining how only one council for such a large area would improve local decision-making and make council services better. There’s precious little evidence that mega unitary councils do this, or that they are less likely to fail financially.
Like our colleagues in the district and borough councils, we’d rather keep the ‘local’ in local democracy.”