Suffolk County Councillor leads lone campaign for two-unitary solution
Cllr David Nettleton is calling for Suffolk to be split into two as a major council shake-up inches closer.
A councillor is calling for a two-unitary solution as politics are getting in the way of residents’ needs.
Cllr David Nettleton, who represents Bury St Edmunds at the county council, is calling for Suffolk to be split into two as a major council shake-up inches closer.
As it stands, Suffolk’s six county, district and borough councils will cease to exist by May 2028 and be replaced by unitary authorities with more powers.
The question is how many of these unitaries will replace them — the county council says it prefers a single authority covering the entire county, while the districts and borough councils are backing three.
The debate, by and large, has centred around the need for local representation, and therefore multiple, smaller unitaries closer to residents, and the potential savings of a single authority for Suffolk.
Cllr Nettleton, however, believes a two-unitary solution would strike the balance just right between both aspects, calling out councils for playing politics.
He said: “There’s a lot of politics in this — I think we should be looking at the interests of residents of Suffolk as a whole.
“Somebody should be allowed to put forward the two-unitary option, I am willing to do so — the Secretary of State should be able to choose from all three options, not just two.”
Under his proposal, the county would be split into a western side, made up of West Suffolk, Mid Suffolk and Babergh, and an eastern side, comprising Ipswich and East Suffolk.
According to Suffolk Observatory population data, this would mean each authority would have around 390,000 residents.
On top of this, boundaries would not need to be redrawn, a key point of contention between the current proposals.
Councils are due to present their final business cases to the Government by September 26 but, as it stands, there is no official proposal for a two-unitary solution from any of Suffolk’s existing local authorities.
This does not mean Suffolk could not see two unitaries set up, however, as the final choice will be down to the Government.
Nevertheless, Cllr Nettleton said all options should have a ‘level playing field’ on the Government’s table.
Once official proposals are sent out, a Government consultation will then be held, expected to end in early 2026, ahead of a final decision later that year.
Elections for a ‘shadow council’ will then take place in May 2027, which will exist underneath the current structure until May 2028, when it will take over.