Local Government Reorganisation and devolution

Devolution

Devolution is the process where some powers of decision making and funding are transferred from Central Government to a local area (Norfolk in our case). This is so decisions around how money is invested can be based on local knowledge and made by people who understand local needs best.

TheEnglish Devolution White Paper (opens new window), published in December 2024, outlines the UK Government's plans to extend devolution across England.

For Norfolk, this will see a Mayor elected to lead both Norfolk and Suffolk. The Mayor would be responsible for a range of areas, including economic growth, housing delivery, strategic planning, transport, skills and the ability to set a council tax precept.

Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils submitted an application in January 2025 to be part of the priority programme, so we would have a Mayor in place sooner than other places in the country, which was agreed by the Government.

We currently expect a Mayor to take up their role in the next few years.

Local Government Reorganisation

Alongside the devolution process, the Government is also looking to replace existing district and county councils with new unitary councils. This will be the biggest shake-up in local government in 50 years.  

The process, known as Local Government Reorganisation, would see Norfolk's eight borough, city, district and county councils replaced by a smaller number of unitary councils.

In early 2025, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution wrote to all councils in two-tier areas (like Norfolk, where we have a county and district councils) to send in their proposals for what the future of service delivery could look like.

Breckland's view

This issue has been discussed and debated at a number of previous council meetings. The Council's members have voted to:

1. Confirm it does not support the Government's proposed approach to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and Devolution, is concerned about the risks to residents and businesses through the currently proposed approach and the future level of Council Tax and is proud of the track record of service delivery in Norfolk and Breckland
2. Agrees, should the Government insist on implementing Local Government Reorganisation in Norfolk, to support the development of a three unitary model
3. Delegated authority to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to finalise submissions to confirm the Council's position to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

Breckland Council is working collaboratively with Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk, Broadland District Council, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, North Norfolk District Council, and Norwich City Council to respond to the Government's direction that we must draw up proposals for the future of Local Government structures and service delivery. This partnership is called Future Norfolk. You can read the latest about the partnership's activity on our shared, dedicated FutureNorfolk.com website, though a summary is below.

 

Public and partner engagement

Local Government Reorganisation will change how services are provided, so we wanted to hear from staff, residents, and our partners on priorities for the future. Our Norfolk-wide engagement activities over the summer of 2025 gathered insights from residents, partner organisations and businesses, ensuring our proposal is grounded in evidence and with local priorities in mind. This included:

• Direct contact with over 300,000 households through residents' magazines and existing council channels
• Over 70,000 visits to FutureNorfolk.com
• More than 100 public and partner events, from sector-focused workshops to open drop-ins, engaging almost 3,000 individuals and 1,500 partners
• Over 5,000 public survey responses - with 56% of the primary Future Norfolk survey including comments, demonstrating high levels of engagement

People
People placed high importance on accountability and access to decision-makers. The responses we received suggest a strong expectation that councils remain visible and approachable, with clear routes for people to raise issues and understand how decisions are made.

Place
A strong emphasis was placed on councils delivering services that reflect community needs, protect local identity and support the local economy. The findings also underlined that while efficiency matters, it should not come at the expense of what makes each place in Norfolk distinct.

Progress
Financial sustainability emerged as the single strongest concern. The results show that residents expect councils to manage resources well, plan ahead and remain resilient in the face of change.

Overall, the feedback from local people shows that people value accountability and access to decision-makers, services that reflect local needs and identities, and a structure that can manage resources well, plan ahead and adapt without creating unnecessary complexity. Our partner organisations asked that existing strengths are protected and that essential services are not disrupted. They also identified opportunities for improvement, including stronger collaboration, clearer accountability and arrangements that reflect local priorities.

You can read more about our engagement findings at FutureNorfolk.com.

 

Our proposal

City, Coast, Countryside. Three distinctive places with different economic opportunities, different demographics, different geographies and different challenges. Our shared proposal to create three unitary councils - one for Greater Norwich, one for East Norfolk and one for West Norfolk - best represents local identity, unlocks the full potential of these areas, which respecting their distinctly different economies, communities and needs.

Our proposal includes:

• Three local authorities which are of significant size and scale.
• Three authorities whose communities are different, with distinct needs best served by bespoke local public services
• Three authorities which reflect the differences across our county - from city to coast to countryside.
• Three authorities which have economic opportunities which, alongside our partners, can unlock new homes, new skills and new jobs for local people.
• Three authorities which are financially sustainable, safe and legal, with real opportunities to drive efficiencies, savings and local benefit.
• Three local authorities which move into annual surplus from year 4, following some transition costs which initially outweigh savings.

You can read more about our proposal on our Future Norfolk website or in our proposal documents below.
 

Downloads

Future Norfolk - Three Unitary Proposal: Executive Summary (PDF, 2 MB)
Future Norfolk - Three Unitary Proposal (PDF, 3 MB)
Future Norfolk - Proposal for West Norfolk (PDF, 3 MB)
Future Norfolk - Proposal for Greater Norwich (PDF, 2 MB)
Future Norfolk - Proposal for East Norfolk (PDF, 3 MB)
Future Norfolk - Three Unitary Proposal: Appendices (PDF, 5 MB)

 

Estimated timeline  

Councillors from each of our councils (Breckland Council, Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk, Broadland District Council, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, North Norfolk District Council, and Norwich City Council) will debate and vote on our shared proposal at council meetings taking place in September 2025. You can find out when your council will be discussing this proposal via your local council's website.

If the elected members vote to support the proposal, we will submit this to the Government as our plan for the future of local services.

The Government will then review our proposal and supporting evidence we've provided (which includes feedback from our previous public survey), consider any other proposed models for the future of Norfolk's local government, and hold a public consultation. A final decision will then be made before we move into implementing any changes.

We currently expect the timeline to look something like this:
(Please note this timeline is subject to change)

• Autumn/Winter 2025: Government holds a public consultation to gather local people's views on proposals.
• Early 2026: Government makes a decision on how services will be delivered in the future
• Spring 2026: Necessary changes in legislation are made and elections held
• 2027: New authorities formed in shadow form
• 2028: New authorities go live and take over from existing councils