Give Citizens A Voice

摘要

All of us realise we are living in extraordinary times. Local government is not and should not be immune from the uncertainty faced by our residents and partners, and local people are right to demand that we support them through these tough times by delivering the excellent services they need at an affordable price. Not the best time then, you may think, to be worrying about how local government is structured, or for using scarce resources to work on this. Yet, actually, there has never been a more important moment to ensure councils are fit for the purpose of getting the job done well, and in a way that meets the actual needs of the people they serve. This is why I am concerned about the way the Boundary Committee has gone about its task - how it has appeared to ignore the views of many residents in Suffolk, and how it has failed to really understand the social and economic character of this county. This makes me very disappointed and angry on behalf of the people who live here. At a district level, in Suffolk, we are, in fact, advocates of the efficiencies and improvements that well-managed unitary authorities can bring to bear.