Today (Wednesday, 25 March) Government has announced the configuration for Local Government Re-organisation across Essex and has chosen the five unitary option – which puts us with Braintree, Colchester, and Essex County Council.
We welcome today's announcement and are pleased the ministry has listened and adopted our preferred model for North East Essex.
We will now step up our collaborative work with all partners across Greater Essex to deliver this change to best serve the interests of our communities, including the people of Tendring, and to ensure this process happens in a smooth way as possible with minimal disruption to you and to the public.
I have also recorded a short vlog on the decision which can be found on TED here.
We understand there will be lots of questions at this time, and we will be working hard to answer those over the coming weeks and months as the implementation plan is developed. There will be staff briefings on 31 March to give you the latest in more detail and to answer your questions. In the meantime, please do continue to check back on the LGR page on TED, which we will keep updated. As a reminder, you can read details of the proposal on the Essex LGR Hub website.
There remains a lot of uncertainty at this time, though having the clarity of the future shape of local government allows work to really step up now. But I want to reassure you that, as we have said throughout, staff will continue in their roles and transfer in line with TUPE arrangements across to the new North East Essex unitary council.
What does not change is the importance of us still providing excellent local services for our residents and communities, and that continues right up until the point at which Tendring District Council no longer exists on 1 April 2028; and indeed afterwards, when I am confident you will still be serving our community – taking forward our positive can-do culture – just under a new council name.
Please do input your questions through the TED page, by sending them to LGRquestions@tendringdc.gov.uk, or via your manager, and we will endeavour to answer them at the upcoming staff briefing and on the FAQs too.
All the best
Ian Davidson
Chief Executive
