Council sets government deadline over legal action
John Fairhall/BBCSuffolk County Council has given the government 11 days to respond to a legal challenge to plans to shake up local authorities.
The government wants to scrap Suffolk's county, district and borough councils and replace them with three unitary authorities with more powers.
The county council, now led by Reform UK, has submitted a pre-action letter detailing its concerns and that it believed the plan to be unlawful.
Opposition parties questioned why the challenge had been made with no discussion with members, and why the details in the letter had not been revealed, but council leader Michael Hadwen said that releasing documents could undermine the authority's challenge.
Hadwen, who became leader of the council last month, made it clear early on that he would be opposing the plans for local government reform.
On Friday, he submitted the letter, which is the step before a full court claim that would challenge the decision, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
"Suffolk cannot be forced into a costly and chaotic reorganisation on the basis of a flawed process," Hadwen said.
"The decision to take this action is about protecting Suffolk from expensive and unnecessary upheaval."
The council argued the decision went beyond the secretary of state's legal powers and did not follow the statutory process set out in legislation. The letter also challenged the government's justification for the plans.
It has not been released, for legal reasons, and the government has until 12 June to respond.
When the decision was reached in March, the government said setting up three unitary authorities would reflect the regional, cultural, social and economic patterns across the county.
But Hadwen said any decision about the future of Suffolk should be made properly and transparently, and he said the decision failed those tests.
John Fairhall/BBCAndrew Stringer, the leader of the Greens on the council, said his group was "deeply concerned" the decision had been made without a vote or discussion.
"I find it ironic that Reform made a great deal during their election campaign about their giving the public a chance to vote, yet as soon as they gain power they try to shut down future elections, where they can be challenged," he said.
"This potentially costly move has been made with no vote or discussion at the council."
Richard Rout, leader of the council's Conservative group, said the challenge was "spurious at best".
He said not revealing the pre-action letter – as was done by as was done by Essex County Council – suggested the administration did not have a strong case.
"The natural inference is that there is little in the letter that would survive being read in daylight," he added.
Martin Cook, the Labour group leader, said the new administration was about to spend roughly £100,000 of taxpayers' money on a complex legal process that could "lock us into an antiquated system".
He said the new unitary system would keep decision-making local.
But Hadwen told the BBC: "Throughout the election campaign, voters made it clear they do not want to see Suffolk divided up or local services put at risk through local government reorganisation.
"Opposition parties are entitled to their views, but they did not win the election. We did, and we will continue to stand up for Suffolk residents, particularly the most vulnerable, whose services could be adversely affected by these proposals."
He added: "Our pre-action correspondence will remain confidential until the appropriate stage of the process. We will not jeopardise Suffolk's case by releasing documents that could be used to undermine the challenge."
Norfolk County Council has also not made its challenge to the reforms public.
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