South Holland MP Sir John Hayes says he believes the forthcoming shake-up of local councils will take power ‘further away from the people it affects’ and has vowed to fight for a compromise.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he will continue to press the government to split the new unitary Lincolnshire Council into two.
“The government – like the last one – has made a great deal of devolution,” he said. “It’s hardly devolving power – it’s doing the opposite.
“It’s taking power further and further away from the people it affects.
“I think power is best exercised close to those it affects rather than distant from it, so I have profound reservations.
“Given the government seems determined to have this kind of extended Lincoln, the compromise now would be to at least draw a line east of Lincoln and create two further local authorities – one north and one south.”
Sir John went on to say that he doesn’t feel the council shake-up will deliver what it set out to do.
He added: “Governments like to sometimes do these things – by and large they regret later – because local government reorganisation is a hugely time consuming and costly business and it’s very difficult to reconcile all the views and opinions about what the structure of local government should look like – and so it’s proved in this case.
“My own view about what they’ve ended up with is it’s probably the worst of all the options really.
“We’re going to end up with a Greater Lincoln which is a very odd concept.
“The proposal is for a single local authority stretching from my constituency in Deeping St James right up to Sutton Bridge – right up to Gainsborough.
“That has many problems. The first thing is that there’s no real communicative interest between those very different parts of the county.
“Secondly, for that reason, it’s unlikely to cover any sense of local cohesion. There’s no natural connection between the parts of it.
“I mean policy decisions they’re making in Gainsborough are for the most part not going to be very relevant to people in Long Sutton or Crowland or other parts of my constituency.”
Sir John also raised concerns about how fewer councillors will have to represent much larger areas.
