This section gives you lots of information about how your Council works. It includes details of who your Councillors are and how to contact them, as well as when they meet and how they make decisions. You can also find downloadable copies of the Council's key strategies and policies, and information on how we monitor our performance.
If you have any questions about the information in this section in the first instance please contact the Committee Services Team:
Legal and Democratic - Committee Services
Grafton House
15-17 Russell Road
Ipswich
IP1 2DE
Email: linda.slowgrove@ipswich.gov.uk
Telephone: 01473 432511
Ipswich Borough Council has a joint administration made up by Conservative and Liberal Democrat members. The Leader of the Council is Cllr Elizabeth Harsant, who is leader of the Conservative Group. For further information on Ipswich's Councillors and which areas they represent, visit the Your Councillors section.
The Constitution explains more about how Ipswich Borough Council is run.
Service delivery in Ipswich is currently shared between Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council. The Borough Council is responsible for benefits, environmental health, planning, leisure, recycling, refuse collection and street cleaning. The County Council provides services such as education, libraries, waste disposal and adult social care. For information on Suffolk County Council services please visit the Suffolk County Council website (opens in new window).
Last year Ipswich Borough Council submit a bid to Government to become a unitary authority. Last December ministers put Ipswich's unitary bid on hold and called in the Boundary Committee to look at possible unitary options for the whole of Suffolk.
All three political parties have welcomed the publication of the terms of reference by the Boundary Committee for England, who are working in Suffolk and Norfolk to consider changes to local government.
The Committee is talking to Ipswich Borough Council and other councils in Suffolk to get their views and will publish its draft proposals in the summer. The Committee will then ask the public for their opinions in the summer. Final advice will be given to the Government in December.
Ipswich Borough Council has again stressed its support for a unitary solution, all political parties sharing the same vision.
More information about Ipswich Borough Council's bid and its submission to the Boundary Committee is available on the Unitary Ipswich website (opens in a new window).
A unitary council is a single authority which is responsible for providing all services in an area - such as education, social services and emptying the bins.
You can find the Boundary Committee for England's draft proposals at council offices, libraries and on the website
www.boundarycommittee.org.uk (opens in a new window)