I would like to know your opinions about the Local Government Review. For those of you who haven't really taken this on board - Central Government have been consulting for months on the abolition of District and County Councils and merging their responsibilities in either one single Unitary authority, or various different layouts - essentially with "Greater Norwich" as one unitary body at the centre but with several different ideas for another unitary body to cover the rest of the County.
If one of these plans succeeds, there will be far fewer Councillors. At the moment, each District has its' Councillors and the County has a different set of Councillors - except that sometimes, and in the case of the new County Council quite often, the same people wear two different hats - hence the expression "twin-hatters". Under the proposed arrangements, this double status would disappear - as would the financial advantage of being a twin hatter - instead of two lots of Member's allowances there would only be one.
I must hold my hands up at this point and admit to being a twin hatter myself for a brief period. However, when I realised the sheer impossibility of doing both jobs properly, I didn't stand for re-election at District level.
Contrast that with the actions of the Conservative members of Norfolk County Council who, although already Members of District authorities, stood as County Councillors and who have now flatly refused to allow discussion in public of Members' allowances in a public Scrutiny meeting.
There is no doubt that there are cost savings to be made in unitary authorities. The public would find it easier to understand where to go with matters if there was one council which dealt with everything. Duplication of effort would be avoided and the expensive senior management structures would be simplified.
Tell me what you think? Shouldn't this issue be properly aired in a public forum? Voters in Norfolk pay for their elected representatives - if you feel the need for a different approach, let me know!
So far there has not been a proposal for a unitary authority in Norfolk that more people support than oppose.
ReplyDeleteA county wide unitary feels too big. Most people recognise the need to have something between parish and county if Norwich, Kings Lynn, Thetford and Great Yarmouth areas are all going to feel that their needs are being considered adequately.
The city of Norwich is too small to be a unitary on its own, but the surrounding suburban and rural villages don't want to be part of a Greater Norwich where they think that their needs will come second to those of the city (and they will end up paying more council tax, for worse services and less influence over what happens in their communities).
For most of Norfolk the three levels of local government work very well. Knowing who cuts the grass in the park, and who empties the bins is not difficult to find out if you need to.
There will be a large cost involved in changing from the present system, and no guarantee that it will work as well.