Mike Stonard, leader of the Labour group at City Hall, said the government's decision to replace all eight current Norfolk councils with three new unitary councils offers was "momentous".

Mike Stonard, leader of Norwich City Council (Image: Norwich City Council)

The new authority will be formally created in 2028, with elections to its shadow form in 2027 - following the final city council elections in May.

The Greater Norwich Council will take in parts of South Norfolk and Broadland, the redrawn boundaries - adding areas such as Horsford, Honingham, Blofield, Brundall, Hethersett, Spixworth, Taverham and Cringleford to the existing city wards.

And that means the political dynamic is likely to be very different to City Hall's current make-up, where Labour, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats are the only parties represented.

Mr Stonard said: "The new council will be controlled by whoever the people chose to control it and that's absolutely right.

"If we had wanted to design a unitary which guaranteed it would be Labour in control, then the boundaries would have been somewhat different to this one.

"All of us in the Labour Party, locally, regionally and nationally, took the view we wanted to get this right for Greater Norwich, not for us, and then we would go off and fight in elections.

"Clearly, I hope that Labour will be in control of it, but we know that, whatever happens, Greater Norwich will have a strong, progressive vote."

Mr Stonard said, with the Greater Norwich Council having responsibility for all services - unlike the current two-tier system - it would enable a clearer focus to tackle specific issues in the area it would cover.

He said the new council would be better able to tailor solutions to tackle inequality and deprivation, while pushing forward with creating new homes, jobs and economic growth.

Mr Stonard said: "I think it's a real opportunity for a strong unitary to grasp all the challenges facing Greater Norwich by putting us in a much better position to address them."

Norwich City Council's City Hall headquarters (Image: Nick Butcher)

Decisions on where staff would be based are yet to be made, but Mr Stonard said Labour were keen City Hall would accommodate at least some of them.

He said it was "not appropriate" to speculate on what the future could hold for County Hall, the current headquarters of Norfolk County Council, which is being abolished along with all seven other councils.

© Norwich Evening News