Concerns town could lose out in council shake-up

People living in a rural town said they were worried it could lose out in the biggest shake-up of local councils in 50 years.

Fakenham, on the western side of Norfolk, is set to become part of a new East Norfolk Council under plans for local government reorganisation.

The new authority is likely to be centred on Great Yarmouth, more than 40 miles (64km) away, a one hour and 10 minutes cross-county drive.

Fakenham's residents and traders fear it will miss out on funding under the planned changes. The government has said it is reforming councils to save money and improve services.

On 25 March the government confirmed proposals to abolish the county and seven district councils which run Norfolk.

They will be replaced by a council for West Norfolk, expected to be centred on King's Lynn, a Greater Norwich Council and an East Norfolk Council.

When Labour came to power, it said it would reform local government by merging councils into unitary authorities.

The new organisations will be responsible for all local services in their areas, from social care to bin collections, planning to roads.

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed said the plan "establishes councils that are better aligned to Norfolk's distinct communities".

In Fakenham though, people like jewellery shop owner Claire Howard, said they were worried its interests would get lost within the new structure.

"Fakenham is like a little blip. With the new council extending right round to Great Yarmouth - I worry about Fakenham getting lost."

She said Fakenham may have been better suited to coming under West Norfolk Council.

"We're a little town surrounded by beautiful countryside that feels more west Norfolk to me than areas like the Broads."

However, the town is already tied to the waterway - it is part of the Broadland and Fakenham parliamentary constituency.

Even before the reorganisation some people in Fakenham felt the town – with a population of around 8,000 – got a raw deal.

It is currently part of North Norfolk District Council (NNDC), which is building an £11m swimming pool and leisure centre in the town.

But there have been long-running grumbles that it has been overlooked in favour of coastal towns like Cromer and Sheringham.

Cherie Bennett, 56, who runs a market stall, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she feared the new boundaries would make things worse.

"Within North Norfolk Council already, Cromer gets all the funding, whereas Fakenham feels like it's scraping by," she said.

"With this new council, there are even bigger players in the mix now – like Yarmouth. It's just going to go to all the big places, and everything here is going to get even worse."

Geoffrey Cripps, 67, who lives just south of the town, said he believed the restructuring would take money away from smaller places.

"Under the new system, the money's going to go where the money's coming in.

"Yarmouth, the coast – that's where the visitors are, that's where the money flows."

But not everyone shares those concerns.

Venetia Strangways-Booth, who runs a boutique, pointed to existing problems with the design of the current councils.

She said: "At the moment you have to go to the county council to close a road for the market, and the district council for something else.

"It will avoid a lot of confusion and it seems to me it's going to save money in the long run."

She also pointed to the benefits the town enjoyed from its coastal neighbours.

"The money that comes down from the coast into this town is quite significant.

"This is where the supermarkets are. Overall, it just makes more sense to me for everything to be under one organisation."

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