What's's it all About? Change in Suffolk
April 16, 2009 12:00 AM
By David Chappell in Bury Free Press
By David Chappell in Bury Free Press
What's it all about?
All this talk of the Boundary Committee, Local Government Review, and judicial reviews. Does it matter?
Well actually it does, which is why those who know about these things are getting hot under the collar.
It boils down to the fundamentals of how we want to be governed. Do we want a big amorphous Council that is too remote from ordinary people, or do we want local democracy in touch with the local community?
Too many people believe bigger is better. I don't! Too many civil servants thing they are the fount of all wisdom, especially if they are connected to Whitehall. They regard the public as cantankerous individuals they can nominally consult with and then ignore. I'm fed up of that attitude.
The Boundary Committee (BC) are in that category an unelected Quango responsible only to the Home Office, ran by Jacqui Smith, who is distracted by her expenses claim.
The BC have decided to ignore local protests from residents and Councils and propose a 'One Suffolk' Unitary Authority. This proposal is in breach of their own guidelines. It it is too big geographically and has too many people in it to be workable. Hence the anger and outrage of those people who know about these things.
Which is why a judicial review will put the matter into a Court Room for a judge to rule on. This is part of the checks and balances of British democracy. I sympathise with John Griffiths in his letter (BFP 4th April) in that I support a the principle of 3 Unitary Authorities for Suffolk and a West Suffolk UA in particular, but I voted against the additional funding in Council and find myself (unsually) in agreement with Ian Smith in his letter of the same date. I fear it is throwing good money after bad seeking to change the view of the BC is a waste of time.
The process has been pushed so far back that a General Election will interrupt the process and the subsequent hung parliament will have other priorities than sorting out Suffolk so it will all be cancelled without the need to spend money in legal battles.
What would you like to do next?
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