West Suffolk District is a local government district in Suffolk, England. It was established in 2019 as a merger of the previous Forest Heath District with the Borough of St Edmundsbury. The council is based in Bury St Edmunds, the district's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Brandon, Clare, Haverhill, Mildenhall and Newmarket, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. In 2021 it had a population of 180,820.
The neighbouring districts are Mid Suffolk, Babergh, Braintree, South Cambridgeshire, East Cambridgeshire, King's Lynn and West Norfolk and Breckland.
Prior to West Suffolk's creation, its predecessors Forest Heath District Council and St Edmundsbury Borough Council had been working together for a number of years, having shared a joint chief executive since 2011. The two districts were formally merged into a new district of West Suffolk with effect from 1 April 2019.[2][3]
The new district has the same name as the former administrative county of West Suffolk, which was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, but the new district covers a slightly smaller area than the pre-1974 county, which had also included areas now in the Babergh and Mid Suffolk districts.[4]
West Suffolk Council provides district-level services.[6] County-level services are provided by Suffolk County Council. The whole district is also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.[7]
The council has been under no overall control since the 2023 election. A coalition of Labour, the West Suffolk Independents, Liberal Democrats, Greens and independent councillors formed after the election, led by Labour councillor Cliff Waterman.[8]
A shadow authority comprising the councillors of both outgoing councils was established to oversee the transition to the new authority. The first elections to the new council were held on 2 May 2019, a few weeks after the new district had been created. Political control of the council since 2019 has been as follows:
During the shadow period leading up to the council's creation in 2019, the shadow authority was led by James Waters, leader of the outgoing Forest Heath District Council. He was unsuccessful in securing a seat on the new council at its first elections in May 2019. The first leader of the council appointed after the 2019 election was John Griffiths, who was the last leader of St Edmundsbury Borough Council. The leaders since 2019 have been:[9]
Following the 2023 election and subsequent changes of allegiance up to July 2024, the composition of the council was:[10]
The Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green Party and one of the independent councillors sit together as the "Progressive Alliance" group, and the West Suffolk Independents and the other ten independent councillors sit together as the "Independents Group". These two groups together form the council's administration.[11] The next election is due in 2027.[12]
The council is based at West Suffolk House on Western Road in Bury St Edmunds. The building had been completed in 2009 for the former St Edmundsbury Borough Council, also incorporating offices for Suffolk County Council.[13]
The council comprises 64 councillors representing 43 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.[14][15]
The whole district is covered by civil parishes. The parish councils of Brandon, Bury St Edmunds, Clare, Haverhill, Mildenhall and Newmarket all take the style "town council".
