Questions and Answers

Questions & Answers

A big thank you to the 2,200+ people who responded to our ‘Have Your Say’ survey about what was most important to you about Local Government Reorganisation.

You told us that the most important thing was ‘Being Local’ – so decisions affecting you, and where you live, are made by councils that are close to you, understand your needs and represent your area. We have listened to what you told us you wanted from LGR, and your feedback has shaped our proposal. Below, we’ve included answers to some of your key questions.

Q&A

The proposal for Three Councils For Suffolk is from the district and borough councils – Babergh, East Suffolk, Ipswich, Mid Suffolk and West Suffolk.

Suffolk County Council is promoting a one unitary council for the whole county, you can find out more by visiting the One Suffolk website. 

Three Councils for Suffolk will deliver:

Savings in first 5 years: £106 million

This is an amalgamation of savings delivered through economies and efficiencies, use of technology, harmonising services etc.

Annual savings after 5 years: £34 million

These are the ongoing savings every year after the first five years. £20m of this could be reinvested in services.

Payback: 4.3 years

The length of time it will take for the costs of change to be paid back by savings, and a “breakeven” point reached.

One off implementation cost: £39 million

These are the costs of change e.g. novating legal contracts, programme management, bringing services together, procurement etc

As well as saving money, Three Unitary Councils For Suffolk means:

  • Councils with a real understanding of their communities with the capacity to tailor services to local needs.
  • Councillors who are rooted in their communities understand the issues that matter and are able to do something about them.
  • Councils that are big enough to deliver and local enough to care about services that work for you.

 

You can find out about the benefits for your business from the Three Councils proposal here:

Three Councils: Benefits for Businesses

You can find out about the benefits for the voluntary and community sector from the Three Councils proposal here:

Three Councils: Benefits for the Voluntary & Community Sector

You can find out about the benefits for Town & Parish Councils from the Three Councils proposal here:

Three Councils: Benefits for Councils

You can find out about the benefits to residents from the Three Councils proposal here:

Three Councils: Benefits for Residents

You can see a map of the proposed council boundaries here:

Proposed Boundaries

You told us that the most important thing was ‘Being Local’ – so decisions affecting you, and where you live, are made by councils that are close to you, understand your needs and represent your area.

“Being Local” Is the top priority

You told us that the most important thing was ‘Being Local’ – so decisions affecting you, and where you live, are made by councils that are close to you, understand your needs and represent your area.

  • 36% of respondents ranked Being Local as the most important attribute for future council operations, the highest of any category.
  • This was ahead of Money – ensuring public funds are spent efficiently and effectively – ranked most important by 19% of respondents.
  • Support for Being Local was strong across all districts, especially in Ipswich (where 40% ranked it as their most important attribute), Babergh (38%) and West Suffolk (36%).

What this means: You want decisions made closer to home, by councillors who understand and work with your communities. One council risks destroying this local connection.

Different Places, Different Priorities

Survey responses show differences across Suffolk:

  • Babergh: Respondents placed a slightly greater emphasis towards accountability and having a say over decisions that affect them.
  • East Suffolk: Ensuring public funds were used efficiently and effectively was slightly more important to respondents, along with protecting the vulnerable.
  • Ipswich: Placed a higher emphasis on their council being local, and slightly more emphasis on accountability.
  • Mid Suffolk: More emphasis was placed on ensuring public funds were used efficiently and effectively.
  • West Suffolk: Placed a slightly higher emphasis on councils being local, with this ranked within their top three attributes more often.

What this means: We’ve analysed the responses from different areas, so we truly understand how people feel. We’re listening and care about what you think.

The proportion of respondents from each district who said ‘being local’ was in their top three attributes for new councils:

  • Babergh: 56%
  • East Suffolk: 53%
  • Ipswich: 63%
  • Mid Suffolk: 55%
  • West Suffolk: 60%

What this means: People across Suffolk care deeply about how their councils are structured—and they’re calling for more localised, responsive governance.

  • March 2025 – interim plans
  • May 2025 – Government feedback on interim plans
  • September 2025 – Full proposal submitted
  • November 2025 – Government statutory consultation begins
  • March 2026 – Government considers the consultation results and makes its decision
  • Summer 2026 – Legislation to create the new councils
  • May 2027 – Elections to the new unitary councils
  • April 2028 – New councils take over all services

We are committed to delivering this public sector reform work to a high standard while ensuring that every pound of public funding is spent wisely.

In June 2025, Central Government awarded councils in Suffolk a total of £290,288 towards the costs of developing proposals for Local Government Reorganisation.

The Five District and Borough Councils and the County Council decided to split this grant into two pots:

  • £145,144 to East Suffolk Council on behalf of the Districts and Boroughs. East Suffolk was chosen because it had commissioned KPMG on behalf of the District and Borough Councils.
  • £145,144 to Suffolk County Council.

Costs over and above the £145,144 grant to the District and Borough Councils will be shared between the five councils.

You can see a breakdown of what’s been spent here to date here: Transparency