CONTROVERSIAL proposals to create a new Norfolk unitary council featuring Lowestoft are set to be the hot topic at a series of community events across the Waveney district.

CONTROVERSIAL proposals to create a new Norfolk unitary council featuring Lowestoft are set to be the hot topic at a series of community events across the Waveney district.

People living in Bungay and Lowestoft have been encouraged to attend Waveney District Council's community engagement forums, which are designed to be held outdoors.

While they are designed to address a wide range of issues, officers believe the forums will give residents a good opportunity to have their say about the Boundary Committee's proposed shake-up of local government.

The committee's favoured option is for the whole of Norfolk and Lowestoft to join forces, with the rest of Waveney being moved into a rural Suffolk authority.

A public consultation exercise is being held until the end of next month, with a final decision due to be made by the government next year.

The dates for the Waveney forums are:

Tomorrow: 10am-noon outside the shops in Hollingsworth Road, Gunton / 1pm-3pm outside the shops at Gresham Avenue, Oulton;

Thursday: 10am-1pm at the Buttercross, in Market Place, Bungay;

August 15: 10am-2pm in London Road North, Lowestoft;

August 21: 10am-noon outside the shops in Whitton Green, Whitton / 1pm-3pm outside the shops in Field Lane, Kessingland.

For further information about the forums in the Lowestoft area, contact Mr Halsey on 01502 523354 or Jo McCallum on 01502 523186 for rural areas.