In February 2018, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government

In February 2018, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed that he is going to start the legislative process in Parliament to create a single District Council for West Suffolk.

If Parliament approves the orders to create the new council for West Suffolk then a new set of wards will need to be created before the first elections May in 2019. This review will be carried out by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE).

The LGBCE is responsible for setting the ward boundaries for a new council and we and our communities have an early opportunity to shape the LGBCE proposals by putting in our own options for the new ward boundaries at the start of the process.

We have drawn up some initial options for the new ward boundaries, and as part of this process we have aimed to deliver acceptable electoral equality for voters so that each councillor represents roughly the same number of voters (give or take 10% from the average, in accordance with the LGBCE guidance). We have also used feedback from our previous consultation, which many of you took part in, to ensure that the options for the council wards reflect, as far as possible, the interests and identities of communities across West Suffolk.

As we informed you in January, our own public consultation on the ward options will run from 7 March and end on 28 March 2018. As we previously identified, we realise that is not a long period, but the timescales involved are out of our control. The consultation is open to anyone who wants to have their say on, and help shape, our own options for the ward boundaries and ward names for the new West Suffolk Council. Of course, these are just our proposals; if you don’t have a chance to respond now, please do ensure you contribute to the consultation the LGBCE will undertake this summer. The final decision will be LGBCE’s. If you haven’t got a parish council meeting organised during this period, then your individual councillors are welcome to put their views forward – or you may want to provide an “informal” collective view.

We will consider all responses to this consultation and the final council proposals will be considered by both councils in April 2018 and then submitted to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The ward options, background information and a survey to provide feedback can be accessed on our website at www.westsuffolk.gov.uk/wardoptions. Hard copies of the maps will also be available to view at the Council offices in Brandon, Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill Mildenhall and Newmarket in the next few days. We are keen to ensure everyone has the opportunity to input to the consultation, so if you want to display on parish noticeboards, or through any other means, that would be very welcome.

If you do have any questions, please let us know at

Regards,

Leah