Suffolk Coastal District Council has voted in favour of reducing the number of its councillors

THE number of councillors on a Suffolk authority could be slashed at the next election after members last night voted through controversial boundary review plans.

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Suffolk Coastal District Council met yesterday and after about two hours of debate the recommendation that the council should ask the Local Government Boundary Commission to review the number of councillors was approved, with 37 councillors voting for and eight against.

The change could potentially see the current membership of 55 cut by a third, which could save up to £100,000 a year.

An addition was made to the recommendation, agreeing that a cross-party working party of councillors be established to work on the issue and make recommendations to full council that can then be submitted to the Boundary Commission as part of their review process.

The authority had previously confirmed that the review would take just over a year and would involve public consultation before parliamentary approval. Any changes should be implemented in time for the next Suffolk Coastal elections in 2015.

Speaking before the meeting, council leader Ray Herring said: “This reduction would recognise the tough financial times we are in but also, more relevantly, the significant changes that have happened and are set to occur in the way councils like ours operate.

“Our May 2015 elections are due to coincide with the General Election, when 10% fewer MPs will be elected.

“If the review recommended a reduction of 30% in the number of our councillors, that would free up some of our increasingly limited officer time, and a fall in the total amount of allowances paid out, with potential savings of up to £100,000 a year.”

However, Labour’s Mike Deacon said the proposals went “far beyond” a review of boundaries.

He said: “I think the council works quite well as currently constructed. We hear from those representing rural wards of the difficulties they have with a dispersed electorate. We, who represent urban wards are faced with the many problems that such a community produces.”