I feel that I cannot ignore the fact that the Local Government review process has once again ground to a halt. According to the East Devon District Council website (which has published by far the most cogent article on the issue so far) a High Court judge found on Friday that the Boundary Committee has misdirected itself over its legal powers. Despite the fact that there have now been two consultations neither of them appear to have been carried out properly and the net result is that they have to consult all over again. The judge was very critical of the Committee, saying that it had ignored alternative proposals for unitary arrangements from local authorities who represent over 50% of the population of Suffolk. The Committee has been given leave to appeal.
As I have said before, I am not opposed to unitary government, although I remain concerned about the democratic deficit that could result from the establishment of an over large authority. Unitary arrangements should be more cost effective, and having all council services under one roof would help those members of the public who are never quite sure which council has responsibility for what.
This came to mind yesterday evening when I was at an event at Gainsborough’s House. I met a very nice person from Long Melford who, hearing that I am a Babergh Councillor, started to complain about the fact that the council had not helped with her drainage problem. I pointed out to her that actually, unless the drain that was giving difficulty was on Babergh’s land it isn’t actually their responsibility to assist. The County Council Highway Department, or even Anglian Water would probably be the right body to contact. Asking Babergh to help is a bit like asking Sainsbury’s to give a refund on goods from Tesco. Perhaps Babergh’s ‘signposting’ wasn’t too good when she telephoned, but I don’t really think that they can be blamed for not assisting on this occasion!
In a unitary world such confusion might perhaps be avoided.....
