For my constituents struggling to pay the bills, council tax and reliant on our local public services, it’s no longer acceptable to go on spending so much on the (too often) high salaries, gold-plated pensions, and duplicated back office bureaucracies which soak up vast sums of our precious public money. Indeed, I have spoken at length about this in two of my previous web-stories, ‘Local Government’ (see here) and ‘Protecting Frontline Services’ (see here).

That’s why I am pleased to hear that South Norfolk District Council and Broadland District Council have agreed, after thorough studies, to share officer responsibilities to help save funds over the coming years. The deal will save more than £8million over the next five years, and also see the Chief Executive roles at the two respective councils replaced by one joint managing director from January 2019.

As I have repeatedly said in recent months, we cannot go on pouring precious taxpayers’ money into a system that often spends it on itself before passing on an increasingly small amount to frontline operations. By working together as South Norfolk and Broadland have agreed however, local government can spearhead a more coordinated approach that drives up standards, shares valuable experience and saves money – which can then be reinvested in the services we all cherish and rely on.

I look forward to seeing the success that this agreement will bring over the coming years.