Suffolk says Secretary of State went against advice of officials in backing three-unitary model

In March, the Government announced plans to replace councils in Suffolk with three unitary authorities, rejecting the county council's preferred option of a single unitary authority.

Suffolk later issued a pre-action protocol letter over the decision. It has since said that the Government's response to its legal letter has prompted councillors to call an extraordinary Cabinet meeting for Monday (29 June) to determine whether to continue with formal legal action.

A report prepared for the session says the Government’s response showed the Secretary of State, Steve Reed, "departed from the advice of his civil servants who recommended implementation of the single unitary council".

The civil service’s advice stated: "We consider the 1 unitary to be the strongest proposal for Suffolk against the criteria. The single unitary proposal meets all the criteria, and does so more strongly than the 3 unitary proposal in relation to its geography, financial resilience, and service delivery. The 3 unitary proposal meets the criteria though it is complicated by a significant boundary change request modification."

The news echoes circumstances in Essex, where the county council has also claimed that Reed ignored professional advice. Essex County Council agreed to issue proceedings last week.

Suffolk's cabinet will vote on whether to instruct officers to continue with the proceedings, and to agree that the decision is urgent and therefore not subject to a call-in under the council's constitution.

On costs, the report states that: "Even if the claim were to obtain permission and proceed to a substantive hearing, it is considered relatively unlikely that the total costs incurred by all parties would exceed £500,000."

Commenting on the Government's response, Cllr Michael Hadwen, Leader of Suffolk County Council, said: "I have been clear from day one that I have no wish to see my county divided, and I will fight tooth and nail to avoid this from happening.

"It has taken the threat of legal action for the government to finally reveal some of its reasoning on why it took the decision it did on LGR – and the correspondence does not make for convincing reading.

"Not only is the Secretary of State trying to force Suffolk into a chaotic reorganisation – he is doing so with a blatant disregard for the advice of his civil servants.

“Suffolk deserves better and we intend to deliver it for our residents.”

Adam Carey