Bury St Edmunds MP says new Suffolk and Norfolk mayor should be based in the town
The two counties are scrapping district and borough councils to join together to make services more efficient
A new Suffolk and Norfolk mayor should be based in Bury St Edmunds, according to the town's MP.
It comes after Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, recently confirmed Suffolk’s participation in the Government’s devolution priority programme, alongside Norfolk.
What is devolution?
Local authorities across the country have voted to determine if they want to be a part of local authorities that will be restructured.
This means dissolving district and borough councils and instead having a unitary council.
The government have said their vision from this is to create simpler local government structures, with the goal of having better outcomes for residents, saving significant public funds which can then be reinvested in public services, and improving local accountability.
Alongside council reorganisation, the government is also proposing to create new Mayoral Authorities – with a single directly elected Mayor covering larger geographies (such as Norfolk and Suffolk).
The Mayor would then have powers over strategic policy areas like transport infrastructure, health improvement and blue light services.
The ambition is for the programme to come into full effect in May next year (2026).
Why Bury St Edmunds?
Dr Peter Prinsley, MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, said the plans would streamline decision-making, improve efficiency and make it easier to deliver services which meet the needs of local people.
He added: “This is an exciting opportunity for our region to gain more control over key areas like transport, housing and economic development.
“A local mayor will be in a stronger position to drive forward growth and ensure that our communities get the support they need.”
Dr Prinsley said his time as a city councillor in Norwich convinced him merging the services of district and county councils would be more sensible.
As it stands, services such as schools and social services are the responsibility of Suffolk County Council, while districts take on others like planning and housing.
The Government’s devolution white paper outlined plans for unitary councils to represent at least 500,000 people, but Dr Prinsley said he favoured an arrangement where five unitaries centred around the five large hospitals so health services could be more joined up.
On a larger mayoral authority, Dr Prinsley said he had spoken to ministers about setting up the official office in Bury.
He argued the friendly rivalry between Ipswich and Norwich made it unlikely either would be the right answer, with the historic Suffolk town easily accessible from all across both counties.
"I think that the people of Norwich might be disappointed if it were at Ipswich and the people of Ipswich might be disappointed if it were at Norwich so it seemed to me that there needed to be a sensible compromise and Bury St Edmunds is of course it right in the geographic centre of the new combined Norfolk and Suffolk Mayor of district...
"I'm certain that there'll always be rivalry, but I'm also certain that the rivalry will remain extremely friendly."
He also noted the historical significance of the town as another reason why the Mayors office should be there.
He said: “The inscription on the ruins of the ancient abbey informs us that the Barons met to conceive the Magna Carta at Bury, which is the foundation document of English democracy, so what better place could there be than our beautiful Bury?”
He also told us having the Mayor in Bury will help the local economy by creating more jobs in the area.
"I think that the office of the Mayor will come with some new jobs and that that'd be very welcome... and Bury has a distinguished atmosphere and a (strong) infrastructure to support an office of this size."
Another reason why Dr Peter Prinsley believes this will be the most suitable location is simply its geographical position.
"If you just look at the geography of Norfolk and Suffolk and you were to draw a point that we're in the middle of of the counties, Bury St Edwards would be very suitable - it's got really good connections. It's on the A 14, so it's on the main road that cuts across the counties.
"It's not far from basing Bury St Edmunds to Cambridge. It just makes a lot of geographic sense to me."