Suffolk's proposed in principle devolution deal, which would have brought more than £500 million to the county over 30 years, has been scrapped by the Government.

The deal would have meant local people would be empowered to make more decisions about the county's future, rather than people in Whitehall. However, the additional funding – which would come with new local decision-making powers over areas including housing, transport, adult education and regeneration – is no longer being offered to Suffolk.

Key aspects of the deal included:

• Control of a new investment fund worth £480m over the next thirty years
• Local control of the Adult Education Budget each year (worth £9.4m in 2025/26)
• £5.8m one-off funding to prepare brownfield sites for development
• Multi-year transport funding plus an additional £500,000 over two years to finalise Suffolk's Local Transport Plan
• The leader of Suffolk County Council would be directly elected by the people of Suffolk – rather than by county councillors.

Most people who responded to an independent survey, run by Ipsos, were in favour of the proposed deal. 63% of people supported or strongly supported it while 7% disagreed. 21% of people were unsure. In a separate but linked poll run by Suffolk County Council, 49% of people who responded supported or strongly supported the deal, whilst 40% did not and 11% were unsure.

Suffolk County Councillors were expected to vote on the deal after the General Election in July.

Cllr Matthew Hicks, Leader of Suffolk County Council, said: "This feels like a real slap in the face for Suffolk from a Government that won't listen to what local people are saying. First, they waved through the Sunnica application, showing little regard for the communities affected. Then, they scrapped the winter fuel payments, which will adversely affect older people living in rural areas. Now, our proposed devolution deal – which has widespread public support – is in the bin.

"Governments of any colour should be pro devolution because councils know how best to serve local people. Local councillors have now been stripped of the opportunity to support or reject the proposed deal which is a sad day for democracy by any measure."

A 3 minute video summarising Suffolk's proposed deal is availablke via the link below.

Suffolk's devolution consultation ran from 18 March to 26 May. Following the announcement of the General Election on 4 July 2024, Suffolk's decision-making process was paused. Suffolk County Council has now been informed that the deal is no longer on offer from Government.

There were two surveys run during Suffolk's devolution consultation period. The first was an independent and demographically representative sample survey of 1,000 Suffolk residents – run by Ipsos. The second was a survey run by Suffolk County Council which was available online and in hard copy across Suffolk. Anyone could take part in the survey and 1,787 residents did. Three focus groups were also delivered by Ipsos.