Burnham-On-Sea’s MP and the leader of Sedgemoor District Council spoke on Tuesday (January 23rd) about their disappointment at the decision by Somerset County Council to go ahead with plans to create one local authority and disband the districts – including Sedgemoor, which currently oversees Burnham.
The bid for unitary status, which would see one single powerful authority replacing the five districts and county council, will go before the Government for consideration by the end of this week and a shortlist of successful authorities will be published at the end of March. If Somerset is successful, public consultation will take place from April until June.
MP David Heathcoat-Amory told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I’m very disappointed by this decision – I will fight it all the way. Unitary status for Somerset just doesn’t make sense for residents – it will cost them more.”
And Sedgemoor District Council leader Councillor Duncan McGinty gave a detailed reaction on Tuesday: “We will now take our fight to Westminster to show that this proposal can only bring financial heartache and misery to so many good people in Somerset, with no concrete proof to back up County Hall’s shaky business case. It was clear from the meeting that there was an overwhelming opposition to what the Liberal Democrat-controlled County Hall proposed and it was evident the vote went along party lines. We are a high performing, efficient local authority that delivers time and time again to our residents and all five districts would have worked together to provide even greater efficiencies without the need for costly disruption that nobody really wanted in the first place.”
“County Hall claims there will be a transitional cost of £12m, with ongoing savings of £25m made from 2011, but an authoritative report by Cambridge University Emeritus Professor Michael Chisholm suggests the transitional costs in Somerset will be far greater – more than £35m alone.”
“The debate was often scathing about County Hall’s business case and at one point it was described as fundamentally flawed. The £25m worth of savings will come from job cuts, from the 60 or so people County Hall claims will be made redundant or invited to take early retirement to the 640 or so more who will have to reapply for their owns jobs or be redeployed elsewhere. No mention was made of the £54 it will cost each person in Somerset to foot the bill for the changes, a figure put forward by the highly respected Professor Chisholm.”
“The new super-sized council would keep swinging the axe on posts and services so it can keep to its pledge of raising council tax by a maximum of two per cent each year for five years. As the debate heard, the business case for unitary status does not hold water and it is based on woefully inadequate financial information that even county councillors only received on Friday evening, just two days before the meeting.”
“Lip service was also paid by supporters of the bid to the most important thing of all – democracy. There will be 116 councillors under the new administration, giving a diabolical ratio of one elected official to 5,000 electors, which would be the worst in Europe. At the moment the ratio is one to 2,500.”
“How can this new proposed administration hope to enhance the Government’s call for greater accountability? It simply does not stack up.”
RELATED LINKS:
Somerset County Councillors vote 28 to 21 in favour of unitary status
District council leader calls for free vote during unitary status debate
Burnham’s MP takes unitary debate to parliament
Unitary council plans move closer after county council vote
Burnham-On-Sea MP slams unitary council plans
