When people ask me about the postponement of this year’s local elections in Suffolk, I like to tell them the story of a humble street bin in Stowmarket.

Unfortunately, the bin is broken, and its contents have spilled out onto the pavement, leaving a mess. The Town Council is responsible for replacing the broken bin, which it does, but not for cleaning up the mess. In Stowmarket, cleaning up the mess on a public pavement is the responsibility of the District Council. The District Council clears up the mess left by the broken bin in Stowmarket. But regrettably, some of the bin’s contents spilled into the gutter, causing a blockage.

The County Council is responsible for fixing blocked drains, so after the Town Council replaces the bin and the District Council cleans up the mess, the County Council comes and fixes the gutter.

Fixing this street bin in Stowmarket requires the involvement of three local authorities. This example is by no means isolated, and other issues often involve the Town, District, and County Council.

There is no denying that the current set-up is confusing, inefficient, and riddled with duplication, all of which is costly for the taxpayer. Much better would be to do away with unnecessary layers of administrative bureaucracy in favour of single unitary authorities with responsibility for all local services.

Which is why I welcome the Government’s proposals to introduce just such a structure for Norfolk and Suffolk.

The proposals will see a radical transformation of local government into a few unitary authorities, each providing all local services to their communities. They will reduce waste, improve services, and cut costs. Judged against these priorities, it would make no sense to waste several millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on local elections this year, only to rerun them again next year.

I have suggested to the Minister responsible that he give serious consideration to configuring the new unitary councils around the five district hospitals in East Anglia: King’s Lynn (Queen Elizabeth Hospital), Norwich (Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital), Great Yarmouth/Lowestoft (James Paget University Hospital), Ipswich (Ipswich Hospital), and Bury St Edmunds (West Suffolk Hospital) in order to better align with medical and social care services.

But where will the seat of the new combined mayoralty for Norfolk & Suffolk be situated, given the friendly rivalry between Norwich and Ipswich?

Bury St Edmunds not only lies in the geographic centre of East Anglia, but it has an absolutely central place in the history of democracy in our country. St Edmund’s Abbey, which stood at the heart of the medieval town, was the location where the barons met in secret in 1214 to swear an oath to persuade King John to accept their ‘Charter of Liberties’. That charter was the Magna Carta.

Bury has good connections across the region, to Cambridge and to London. It sits on the A14, a main arterial road, and has excellent accommodation options available for the new mayor to choose from, both historic buildings and property that will be repurposed when the District Council is discontinued.

Locating the mayoralty in Bury St Edmunds is the perfect diplomatic, pragmatic, and historic choice, and one I am happy to champion.