Norfolk County Council's 2025 elections could be cancelled

With the prospect of all of Norfolk's local authorities being abolished and replaced in the biggest local government shake-up in 50 years, county councillors will be asked to request that Labour ministers suspend next May's vote.

The idea is that doing so would allow the focus to be placed firmly on putting together proposals for how local government could be redrawn in Norfolk.

Norfolk County Council's County Hall headquarters (Image: Mike Page)

Labour ministers are clear it wants to see local government reorganisation as part of devolving powers from Whitehall, along with an elected mayor for Norfolk and Suffolk.

That would see councils abolished and replaced by new unitary authorities, which would provide all services.

That would end the current two-tier system, where some services are provided by County Hall and some by district, borough and city councils.

Local government minister Jim McMahon (Image: Press Association)

But local government minister Jim McMahon, in announcing the potential shake-up, told leaders they had to give a "clear commitment" to devolution and reorganisation by January 10, if they wanted to postpone elections.

That would give the government time to put the necessary parliamentary procedures in place to cancel elections.

So, a proposal has been tabled for an extraordinary county council meeting on January 9 to ask all 84 county councillors if they want to ask the government to postpone the elections.

All 84 county councillors will be asked whether they want to ask for next May's County Hall elections to be postponed (Image: Dan Grimmer)

The meeting will not see proposals for how local government reorganisation in Norfolk might look put forward, but would signal to ministers that leaders want to work to put proposals together.

Elections at Norfolk County Council take place every four years. The council is currently under the control of the Conservatives.

The government has said it wants consensus over proposals for reorganisation, but it remains to be seen how that will play out in a county where previous shake-up attempts caused acrimony.

Discussions have started among leaders of all nine councils - Norfolk, West Norfolk, Broadland, South Norfolk, Norwich, Breckland, North Norfolk and Great Yarmouth - about what they might seek.