11th September - Jack Abbott Writes about the once-in-a-generation opportunity offered by devolution

Devolution and local government reorganisation must not be a sticking plaster, but a catalyst for our future.

Creating three new unitary councils for Suffolk - a Greater Ipswich Council, alongside our friends in East and West Suffolk - is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our town and county.

This week, Parliament returned from its summer recess - and our Labour Government has wasted no time in getting back to work.

On Tuesday, we debated the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. As I have said time and time again, this offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to regenerate our town and county.

Devolution and local government reorganisation is about far more than drawing lines on a map. It cannot be about preserving the status quo under a different guise.  It must not simply stick a plaster over the problems of today. Instead, we must determine what we want the coming decades to look like for our local communities.

Devolution is fundamentally about people. About ensuing that, here in Ipswich and Suffolk, we have the resources, the powers, and the trust we need to determine our own futures.

It has been really encouraging to see all of Suffolk's district and borough councils – led by different political parties – working collaboratively to back three unitary councils for Suffolk, including a Greater Ipswich authority.

The contrast with the Conservative Suffolk County Council is stark. It has been really disappointing to see more time spent attempting to discredit alternative ideas and proposals, rather than promoting why their plans are right for our county.

Tactics ranging from Alice in Wonderland leaflets to deleting Facebook comments have been at time bizarre, but there is a serious point here. Residents are entitled to proper information, not a spin-heavy PR campaign.

Yes, it betrays a lack of confidence in their own proposals by running such a misleading campaign. But it does themselves a disservice too, and much more crucially, it treats local residents with a lack of respect and no little disdain.

Residents will also question why Suffolk County Council are spending so much money and resources on such an overwhelming negative campaign at a time when our potholes go unfilled and children with special educational needs are so badly failed.

Suffolk County Council don’t look like an authority ready to grasp the future, but one that wants to keep power and status for themselves.

For me, three unitary councils - a Greater Ipswich Council operating alongside our friends and neighbours in East and West Suffolk - would mean we all greatly benefit from being able to set the direction for our local areas.

From my discussions with local residents, including at my town hall event that I held on this very issue a few weeks ago, it would seem to be the option that they would favour.

People want their councils to deliver public services effectively, responsively, and accessibly – which is why I believe that our devolution settlement needs to produce unitary authorities with sufficient scale to achieve this.

However, people, rightly, want their councillors and their councils to be rooted in the local community, so that they can listen, understand, and act in their best interests.

I believe that three unitary authorities in Suffolk, under a Mayor for East Anglia, achieves that balance.

Indeed, this isn’t about loosening the fabric that holds our county together, but about strengthening it. 

I moved to Suffolk when I was 10 years old, a quarter of a century ago. It is my home and I care about what happens next.

For a long time, we have been ill-served as a town and a county, by short-termism and a ‘do nothing’ approach, and every day I have entered this job I have thought about all the ways we can leverage the change we need to set us on a new path.

The goal of devolution must not be to tinker around the edges of our current system and stick with a status quo which isn’t working for anyone.

Instead, we should look to the future and take this opportunity to transform local government, our public services, and our communities for the better. 

That’s why I will continue to work for an ambitious devolution settlement that meets the needs of people in Ipswich, Suffolk, and East Anglia.