Press release
Local government review process in tatters
Wednesday 25 March 2009
A clear victory for the people of Norfolk is being claimed by jubilant district and borough councils in Norfolk following today’s dramatic appeal court judgement.
Cllr Nick Daubney, Leader of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, explained: “The judges’ ruling thoroughly discredits the Boundary Committee’s ham-fisted handling of the review of local government in Norfolk.
“We have clearly won. We have always maintained that local people should have the opportunity to have an informed say on matters that affect them, particularly when they will be the ones picking up the tab. The judges have acknowledged that the Boundary Committee has simply not consulted adequately with the people of Norfolk and will now have to do so.”
In simple terms what that means is that the Boundary Committee needs to look again at what it has published and then produce information in a form which members of the public may understand. They will need to explain what the changes mean, how much they will cost, how they will be funded and perhaps more importantly give people enough time to consider the information and respond to it.
Cllr Daubney continued: “We await the Boundary Committee’s response to today’s judgement, but we believe that the whole process is so seriously flawed that the only sensible thing to do now is abandon it. There simply isn’t enough time for the Boundary Committee to do the job properly before the next general election and they should stop wasting public money.
“If they are hell-bent on continuing with this process then at least we can be confident that the people of Norfolk will now be given the opportunity to have their say on matters that affect the future of the county they live in and, in our opinion, the best way for that to happen is for the Boundary Committee to organise a referendum.”
We are confident that if local people are given the opportunity to have their say on this matter the vast majority will say that now is not the time for a costly and unnecessary reorganisation.
