The Department does not hold information about the costs incurred by local authorities of participating in the Boundary Committee’s structural reviews in Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk. In the normal course of their business, local authorities respond to many consultation exercises and requests for information, and consequently, budget for this as part of their business planning.
The Boundary Committee estimate of their total costs, to date, of the three structural reviews is over £1.4 million.
Within the Department, there are currently some 10 full time-equivalent staff working on the structure of local government including work on unitary council restructuring—supporting those new unitaries that were created on 1 April 2009 and taking forward the reviews in Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk—and on improving the operation of two-tier local government. The anticipated expenditure in 2009-10 is some £590,000.