From a residents’ view, the so-called “devolution” looks very like centralisation to a region.
The big decisions, such as on housing, transport and the economy, currently made by our districts, county or unitaries move up into very few hands with a mayor.
If residents thought their current district council was hard to influence, how about something covering an area ten times as big?
That leaves residents worse off as these few hands are necessarily less diverse and less representative of the electorate.
The new subsidiary councils would then focus more on delivery of the Government’s objectives.
The Independent Group have called for any local re-organisation to be a decision by local councils together, not imposed.
Many feel, as I do, that a referendum on such a big decision would be more appropriate. I put the case to ministers for the appointed members of the upper strategic authorities to be politically balanced, but this now seems unlikely.
The distraction from delivery of services at a time when we need to at our sharpest, with a negative impact on countless staff, loss of expertise and impact on the vibrancy of our local communities and economy is a deep concern. Dissolving and setting up new authorities is not to be under-estimated.
For the sake of democracy, we need to set our path on increasing our number of Independents at elections in May, positioning ourselves better for any future changes.
Coun Marianne Overton
Leader of the Lincolnshire Independents and the Independent Network
