Sarah Randall-Johnson, the parliamentary seat-chasing Tory leader of East Devon District Council who spent loadsa money fighting the seemingly inevitable progression of a Devon Unitary Council, has said of the latest unitary edict: “The only thing more surprising than the ridiculous single Devon unitary proposal is the period of time allowed for the public to comment – six weeks, to include the distraction of the Christmas and New Year holidays.”
The festive season notwithstanding, do people care whether they have a unitary council, a district council, or a metropolitan council? We think not. As long as the bins are collected, services are delivered and the council tax is kept low, most people, we reckon, would have no thought about the structure their council.
In terms of local democracy, let’s not forget that East Devon ignored public opinion as it made the decision to allow Tesco to be build in Seaton, and that sitting in on the welcoming committee was a councillor who hadn’t even been elected.
The current make up of councillors taking seats at both district and county level means the community is short-changed. The proposed siting of the Ivybridge Incinerator, is an example: “Ivybridge’s local councillor on Devon County Council, Cllr Roger Croad, being at the same time the Executive member responsible for waste, the chair of the South West Waste Partnership that is looking for a new location for an incinerator and Ivybridge’s Town Councillor who should be opposing the plans”.
The leader of Torridge Council, James Morrish, told the North Devon Gazette: “The only good thing to come out of the whole argument for a unitary authority is that we as a council have found more cost-effective ways of running a local authority, such as appointing a joint chief executive and sharing the skills pool with Teignbridge District Council.”
Which kinda supports the whole notion of a unitary council in the first place.
He also said: “Although the fate of local government is uncertain, while we are still here – and we could well be for a number of years – we need to keep our eye on the ball and continue to do all we can to provide the best possible services at the lowest possible cost.”
It will be interesting to see how the Tory-led County Council faces up to the unitary issue with the Tory-led East Devon Council, especially if we get a Tory-led Government, who will be looking to make savings on services and pension payments. And it will also be interesting to see if the people of East Devon appreciate the money and energy being spent by their district council on fighting the boundary commission, come the next district council elections.
Sarah finishes her press release by saying: “We will be taking legal advice and consulting with our partner authorities on what steps we may be able to take in opposing this absurd idea.”
And we all know how inexpensive legal advice is…
• We’ve had just two examples of local democracy not working – got anymore? Comments below, please!
Come and enjoy Devon – book a hotel and get away!
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