Local Government Reorganisation update

The Government said it is minded to support three unitary councils for Norfolk.

The key message from Sara Touch, Executive Director of Children's Services in Norfolk, is that our focus remains the same: keeping children safe, supporting families, and becoming a county where all young people can flourish. "We remain committed to our flourish vision and we believe the strategies we have, as a partnership, are the right ones to deliver the best outcomes for our children."

While the new councils are not expected to be established until April 2028, this won’t be a single “switch-over” moment. Any changes will be planned and communicated clearly over time. While the structures may be different, the purpose and benefits of unitary remains the same: creating simpler, more sustainable local government services
that work better for residents and communities.

This option is likely to raise questions about what it could mean in practice – particularly how services and partnership governance will be organised across new council areas and what that could mean for how we work together. There is a huge amount of excellent work and expertise across all eight councils.  Sara Tough said "We’ll be making the most of all our talents to create something new and even better for Norfolk.  While we don’t have all the answers yet, I will be fully involved from a leadership perspective, as will many of you, and the priority will be to ensure children, and their needs, are central to planning and we must build on our fantastic work to date for all children to flourish.   Partners will be a key part of that, and Children's Services will need Partnership support as we move towards this new form of local government."