Thursday’s Strategy Committee at Babergh voted to recommend to council on 28th September that the principle of the creation of a new single council be endorsed as the preferred way forward.
A timetable was also agreed and at present the paper assumes that, subject to government approval and a referendum, the new council will be created from April 2012. However the vote at the Strategy Committee was not unanimous and it is clear that there are some who believe that moving to merge the councils so quickly is in some way ‘rushing things’ and that a later date should be agreed.
I do not think that this is a sensible idea. The main aim of the exercise is to save money and the sooner that costs can be reduced the quicker these savings will be realised. For every day that passes the council’s services, particularly those that we are not required by law to carry out, are put at risk. Things that could be further cut , or even eliminated, include, for example community grants, which currently amount to around £300,000 per annum.
In addition is it really fair for us councillors to hang onto our jobs for an extended period when we are seeking immediate redundancies among the staff? I don’t think so.
In my opinion if we are going to merge with Mid Suffolk it would be better to get on with it as quickly as possible.
