A row has broken out over plans to hold a taxpayer-funded lunch to discuss the impending shake-up of local government in Norfolk.
The Reform county council administration has said it will not be attending the event and has accused district councils of wasting public money as it presses ahead with attempts to challenge the reorganisation.
The networking event, due to be held at King's Lynn Corn Exchange on September 8, has been organised by Breckland, King's Lynn and West Norfolk, and South Norfolk councils, which are due to be dissolved with parts forming one larger authority.
Councillors from these councils say the event is important to bring elected members up to speed on the local government shake-up, which is due to come into force in 2028.
Around 100 councillors from these authorities as well as the county council have been invited to the meeting, which is due to cost up to £1,000.
Under the shake-up, Norfolk’s seven district councils and county council will be scrapped and replaced with three new unitary authorities: Greater Norwich, East Norfolk, and West Norfolk.
The latter will primarily take in Breckland and West Norfolk, but will also consume smaller sections of South Norfolk Council.
However, Reform is in the midst of a challenge to the shake-up, and has in turn criticised the cost of the event and refused to attend.
The newly-elected county council administration is currently awaiting a judicial review challenging the government’s decision, and has also refused to take part in voluntary committees to discuss oversight of the transition process.
In emails seen by the EDP, Robin Hunter-Clarke, the deputy leader of the county council, told Bill Borrett, Breckland's cabinet member for devolution: "I will not be authorising any public money to be spent on lunch.
"If you want to provide lunch then I suggest you personally pay for it - not the public."
Scott Hussey, another county council cabinet member, told this newspaper: "Residents are entitled to ask why they are funding hospitality for a meeting about a process being challenged in court.
"If these councils want to host a lunch then that's their choice but they shouldn't expect taxpayers to cover the expense.
"No wonder costs to prepare for local government reform are already so high when district councillors think they can get a £1,000 free lunch out of it."
However, the administration's comments have prompted a stern response from the organisers of the event, who have questioned why Reform are criticising the £1,000 bill while spending hundreds of thousands on a legal challenge to the plans.
Alistair Beales, who is the independent leader of West Norfolk Council, said: "This meeting is about the biggest change to local government in Norfolk for 50 years - a change that is likely to proceed despite the legal action being attempted by the County Council.
"Against that background, the focus on the modest cost of a working meeting seems rather misplaced.
"I would have thought that Cllr Hunter-Clarke might be more concerned about the potential £500,000 cost of the County Council's legal action, its £2.3 billion annual expenditure, or indeed its approximately £900 million of debt."
He added: "I hope he accepts the invitation and joins us.
"He may find that discussing how we shape the future of local government in Norfolk represents rather better use of his time than arguing about the sandwiches."
Bill Borrett, a Conservative, added: "The meeting is to get all the elected members up to speed on the progress so far and to get their first hand knowledge of their communities, to inform the design, identifying what they want to see carried forward into the new council," he said.
"They should then be able to inform and support their areas on the changes in the months ahead."
He added: "It is a pity that the leadership of the County Council has chosen not to send any members to the Voluntary Joint Committee, as they could then be part of the decision making.
"I do hope that in this case they choose to attend."
An invite circulated to members states the purpose of the event is "not to debate whether reorganisation should take place" but to explore "what success could look like" for the new West Norfolk authority, and to identify best practice from the current councils' operating models that members would like to see carried forward.
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