Memorandum by Penn Parish Council (RG
98)
I heard the You and Yours BBC programme on 18
April in which a discussion on regional Government took place
and listeners were invited to send in their comments to the Chairman
of the Select Committee on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
The following thoughts reflect the views of
my Parish Council.
(a) The level of co-operation between parish,
district and county and their joint effectiveness has improved
beyond all recognition over the last 10 years, so there is a potentially
useful framework at immediately local level.
(b) The powerlessness which local people
sometimes feel and which the ODPM's declared aim is to try to
alleviate, is therefore now no longer a consequence so much of
inefficient local government, but rather of central government
taking almost all the decisions that really matter out of local
hands.
(c) The Chairman of the Select Committee
claimed that in any new regional arrangements power must come
down to regions from central Government, not up from County and
District, but the recent removal of the County Council's power
to make a County Structure Plan is a clear case of powers going
up the line.
(d) There is still a remarkably strong sense
of county loyalty, but none at all to a South East Region which
seems more remote then central government.
I attach our paper on Localism and Planning
which, whilst not specifically focussed on
regional government, covers much of the same ground.
|
