COURT OF APPEAL SAY BOUNDARY COMMITTEE IS NOT LISTENING
25th March 2009
Suffolk councils once again call on the Boundary Committee to listen to the people of Suffolk after the Court of Appeal today agreed that residents in counties subjected to Local Government Review had not been properly consulted.
In a 62-page judgement following an appeal by councils in Norfolk and Devon, three judges, led by Sir Anthony May, President of the Queen's Bench Division, say that the Boundary Committee has failed in its duty to properly explain aspects of the Local Government Review process, calling some of the information presented to the public "complicated and indigestible".
The report also states that the Boundary Committee have 'under-concentrated on the public' and calls on them to correct ‘matters that need to be addressed’. This, according to the Leaders of Forest Heath, St Edmundsbury and Waveney councils proves that the Boundary Committee is getting the process wrong.
Cllrs Geoffrey Jaggard, John Griffiths and Mark Bee said: "The Boundary Committee has failed to provide the public with adequate information and, as our research proves, simply won't listen to what people want. The Appeal Court has sent clear message to the Committee that it must get this right and give local people a proper say on how best to run councils in their county.
"Nine out of 10 people in Suffolk* believe that a three-unitary proposal should be consulted on and yet it appears the Boundary Committee couldn't care less what real people think. This process is flawed, the Boundary Committee is getting this wrong and now the Court of Appeal have told them to sort this out.
"We now look to the Boundary Committee to consult on all viable options, including the three-unitary proposal. For our part, we will be taking every action necessary to ensure that local people have their say on all options."