A very interesting few days – CSR07 and no general election this year! An election was always going to be difficult given the current state of the electoral roll registers and the postal strike. Returning officers would have been subject to massive amount of complaints and hassle but I am sure we would have coped as usual! Well what does it all mean now? We can look forward to the European elections, county council elections, general election and probably the new Ipswich unitary elections in 2009. Will they all be on the same date? Who knows? Meanwhile we progress with our work to set up the new unitary council. We have a positive working relationship with Suffolk CC and a joint implementation team has been set up and running for a few weeks. The pace is quickening and time is flying. Obviously a general election would have been disastrous for the review (for us that is!) now we must continue working even as we await the feedback on the consultation of our responses to the financial questions set by the DCLG. The DCLG and the government office, GO-East, have been very helpful and there is a real can do attitude here. Politicians are concerned about the timing of elections so I will leave that to them. It is pleasing to see the District Leaders Sounding Board supported by the Districts Chief Executives Network are making an impact with the specific grant options for concessionary fares which have a distortionate effect on council budget and could tax levels. All districts should lock into these bodies and share good practice whilst emphasising the importance of the front line services we provide. In addition we will of course all be getting down to the details of the CSR07 impact on our finances. Of course the major events of last week were the victories of England and France in the world cup. It's important to keep things in perspective. James Hehir is chief executive of Ipswich BC
