Blo' Norton Parish Council

Sent on behalf of Cllr Bill Borrett, Executive Member for Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation

 

Dear Members,

The last few weeks have seen a great deal of direct engagement with local communities on the topic of LGR and “Devolution”. Please see the update below on what has been happening within Breckland, and nationally.

Norfolk & Suffolk “Devolution” Consultation

On Thursday 17^th July, the Government published their response to their online consultation on “Devolution” for Norfolk and Suffolk. This consultation ran for 8-weeks and attempted to engage with the 1.7m residents across both counties, with 3,115 responses being received.

Despite the small sample size, the sentiment was remarkably clear:

• Only 22% of the public agreed with the new governance proposals.
• Only 17% of the public agreed proposals will support the interests and needs of local communities and reflect local identities.
• Only 20% of the public agreed the proposals will improve services.

I believe that there is a real challenge to listen to what these findings tell us and try to ensure that our response to the Government’s instruction to reorganise is configured appropriately.  It is clear that “local” matters to people, that people want to feel connected to their places. It’s also clear that people are focussed on the quality of services they receive and want to understand how change can make things better.

In-Person Town & Parish Event

 

On the 21^st of July, we hosted a briefing and engagement event for town and parish councillors at Dereham Memorial Hall. Thirteen parishes and towns were represented.

The session allowed us to share up-to-date information with colleagues and to promote the Future Norfolk survey to ensure that we see maximum engagement and can make a strong case to government in September. It was also a chance to answer questions and address some of the more pressing local concerns. High level sentiment was that:

• People are keen to see a maintenance of the status quo and are concerned about increased costs and a change to the quality of service delivery.
• There is concern about the lack of engagement from government and the level of awareness locally of the extent of these proposed changes.
• There is a keenness for us to make a strong case to government that truly reflects local views.
• Support for the three unitary model is strong as it offers the best way forward under the circumstances.

 

Breckland Roadshow – Local Conversations on LGR

From the 15^th to the 19^th of July, we engaged directly with residents across all five of our market towns via our roadshow. Members and officers were on hand across every market day of the week, speaking to residents in the sunshine, wind, and rain. These events were a valuable opportunity to both answer questions the public had about LGR, as well as a chance for everyone to find out more about our three-unitary proposal.

 

Future Norfolk

Finally, I wanted to lead a final push for responses via our Future Norfolk survey which closes on Friday 1^st August. We have seen a tremendous level of engagement so far with over 4,100 responses.

We want to ensure that as many residents as possible have the chance to engage with the process, so would value your assistance in sharing this as widely as you can. https://www.futurenorfolk.com/have-your-say

Kind regards,

Cllr Bill Borrett