This is the same government that instructed councils to present new warding and voting arrangements for their unitary councils in three weeks; a process that would normally take twelve to eighteen months and be done by the Boundary Commission.

Apparently reorganisation is now all about “place” putting people in councils they can relate to, not so much about cost savings.

All happy with that? – Owl

Government ‘hasn’t listened’ to Devon over controversial LGR plans

DCC Leader Julian Brazil

Council got a letter from the government’s legal department. All to do with the challenge around Local Government Reorganisation (LGR.) The council had issued a ‘Pre-Action Protocol Letter for Judicial Review’ and Government was meant to reply by 17th August.

Their letter now says they won’t be able to respond until 4th September. They’ve also refused to answer the Freedom of Information (FoIs) requests saying it would take too much time and resources.

This same government that instructed us to present new warding and voting arrangements for their unitary councils in three weeks; a process that would normally take twelve to eighteen months and be done by the Boundary Commission. You couldn’t make it up; double standards or what!

In Devon we’re going through reorganisation of local government, the police, fire brigade and the NHS. For local government alone there are more than four thousand tasks to be completed. However, when government is asked to explain their rationale behind their reorganisation decisions it’s all too complicated for them.

What hope have we got when government, with all those resources, can’t explain the decisions but we’re expected to pick up the pieces; paid for by Devon’s council taxpayers of course. When is a civil servant going to summon up the courage and tell ministers they’ve bitten off more than they can chew; the emperor not wearing any clothes springs to mind. Then again, they might actually believe it’s being done in the right way, but if so, why can’t they answer the FoIs or the pre-action letter.

How have we got into this mess? I genuinely don’t have a problem with the idea of LGR, and I can see the benefits, but it’s got to be done right. Perhaps if they’d asked local government experts, like the people who actually run local government, to work out how to do it, that might have helped. Instead, we are left in the hands of expensive consultants and clueless Whitehall civil servants. With the final decision left with a Secretary of State who was promptly dismissed for not being in the new Prime Minister’ tribe. Residents deserve better.

We were led to believe LGR was all about delivering better services, more efficiently for our local communities. Instead, in Devon, we are left with a chaotic fiasco that smacks of political interference. Government is now claiming it’s all about ‘place.’ Might cost more and services will be less efficient and effective, but people will be in councils they relate to. Really? With towns split and historic communities divided, it’s no surprise the majority of Devon is unhappy. The idea Exeter and Plymouth have been constrained within their boundaries just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. You can see with your own eyes thousands of new houses being built.