Councils move toward closer relationship
Friday, 11th December 2009.
Two of the councils leading the charge for a West Suffolk unitary authority, rather than the whole of Suffolk, under local government re-organisation, are starting to work together already.
A report by two chief executives will be going to St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath councils next week recommending a closer working relationship as 'preferred partners'.
If councillors approve the recommendation a joint member steering group will be established to oversee the sharing of some services.
Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury have already made a start through a joint waste management committee and now are looking to bring other services closer together.
In a joint statement, Cllr John Griffiths, St Edmundsbury Borough Council leader, and Cllr Geoffrey Jaggard, Forest Heath District Council leader, said: "People have a strong sense of local identity but quite rightly have an expectation that councils will not let boundaries get in the way of making savings.
"In these difficult economic times, when every council is facing the same financial challenges, it makes sense to see where we can drive costs down by sharing staff and overheads.
"By closer collaboration, initially between ourselves and hopefully other partners in the future, we expect to continue improving local services across West Suffolk."
The council report sets out formally that both councils prefer first to explore how they can do things better together before looking further afield for other partners, but it does not stop either one working with other councils as well.
A three-year timetable will be drawn up to identify which services would be first and where savings can be made.
The leaders added: "Both councils need to save millions from their revenue budgets in the coming years and careful planning avoids the need for knee-jerk reactions to these financial pressures.
"This is not a formal merger of our two councils – each has its own distinct identity and local priorities – but sharing some services at various levels will help us to get the best value for money for the council tax payers in each area."
St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath joined forces with Suffolk Coastal to try to halt the Boundary Committee's decision that Suffolk, minus Ipswich, should be one big local authority under proposed local government changes which would see the demise of district and borough councils.
They claim Suffolk's residents prefer the idea of an east and west division into two authorities, such as existed prior to re-organisation in 1974.
A report by two chief executives will be going to St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath councils next week recommending a closer working relationship as 'preferred partners'.
If councillors approve the recommendation a joint member steering group will be established to oversee the sharing of some services.
Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury have already made a start through a joint waste management committee and now are looking to bring other services closer together.
In a joint statement, Cllr John Griffiths, St Edmundsbury Borough Council leader, and Cllr Geoffrey Jaggard, Forest Heath District Council leader, said: "People have a strong sense of local identity but quite rightly have an expectation that councils will not let boundaries get in the way of making savings.
"In these difficult economic times, when every council is facing the same financial challenges, it makes sense to see where we can drive costs down by sharing staff and overheads.
"By closer collaboration, initially between ourselves and hopefully other partners in the future, we expect to continue improving local services across West Suffolk."
The council report sets out formally that both councils prefer first to explore how they can do things better together before looking further afield for other partners, but it does not stop either one working with other councils as well.
A three-year timetable will be drawn up to identify which services would be first and where savings can be made.
The leaders added: "Both councils need to save millions from their revenue budgets in the coming years and careful planning avoids the need for knee-jerk reactions to these financial pressures.
"This is not a formal merger of our two councils – each has its own distinct identity and local priorities – but sharing some services at various levels will help us to get the best value for money for the council tax payers in each area."
St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath joined forces with Suffolk Coastal to try to halt the Boundary Committee's decision that Suffolk, minus Ipswich, should be one big local authority under proposed local government changes which would see the demise of district and borough councils.
They claim Suffolk's residents prefer the idea of an east and west division into two authorities, such as existed prior to re-organisation in 1974.
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