Hidden away in the local press over the past few weeks has been the first real public news that the way our local Borough Council will operate will have to change.
I say ‘have to’ because national government has dictated that it must change and modernise. It also proposed how it should happen. It just so happens that it will reflect how national government works.
It was only this morning (Sunday 3rd September) that Ted Heath MP, made the point that many government decisions are made behind closed doors and the new Speaker of the house should address this drift away from accountability to the House.
This is exactly the system being proposed for our Borough Council in the interests of efficiency and democracy. The idea is that a ‘Leader/Mayor’ will head a ‘Cabinet not exceeding 10 elected members’ who will make all policy decisions. The existing committee system will be replaced by ‘scrutiny committees’ made up to reflect the political balance of the elected council. These committees will ensure that decisions already made are lawful and, believe me, it will be difficult to change or amend any decisions taken by the ‘Cabinet’.
The current Leader of the Council, Andy Williams, has told the Gazette readers that all will be revealed in the next issue of ‘Dacorum Digest’ and the Council will be looking for the publics view.
May I suggest, you contact your local Borough Council and find out exactly their stand will be. Will it be the party view (yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir) or perhaps the sit on hedge and wait and see (before taking the party view as above) or will they weigh up the advantages and disadvantages before making up their own mind.
Remember, this is democracy at work and if you don’t take an interest, then the past three years of considering this subject - honest, what do you mean, nobody mentioned it to you - will be in vain.
It really has surprised me this week, with the inability of many businesses (including mine) to get fuel for vehicles, the roads are still jam packed near our schools. I live within half a mile of three schools of differing age groups and the still the roads were clogged up all week. Still I suppose if you have nothing else to do, you have the time to drive around joining any queues that appear.
The other real item of the week is the apparent realisation that governments just love to tax by the back door. Mr Blair keeps insisting that it’s the price of oil that is the problem, but that’s difficult to believe when 75% of the price is tax.
Over my short life (don’t laugh!!), we seem to have changed from a flat rate increase in wages or prices etc., to percentage increases. This really hides the actual increase in wages or prices or taxes. Perhaps we ought to start pressing for ‘transparency’ to be extended to monetary items as well as political matters, or will we all be very surprised at just how much we all ‘contribute’ to the running of the country.
Just in case nobody thinks of it, the way to solve the problem is to reduce the ‘duty’ (which is not able to be reclaimed by business) and increase the VAT component (which can be reclaimed). This, of course, assumes you believe that increasing vehicle fuel prices actually reduces consumption. On the other hand, you may believe, as I do, that a reduction in commuter car journeys will only be achieved by offering a practical alternative.
week ending 23rd Sept 2000
Do they really know what goes on.
Local residents at my end of town will be secretly relieved to know the recent travelling residents located at the entrance to Long Green have travelled elsewhere. They were friendly, well behaved and a credit to their kind, but after 2 or 3 weeks I did wonder how long they intended staying and contacted various local bodies to get some action.
Our County Councillor telephoned within minutes of my fax to say he would get on the case. My nearest local Councillor didn’t have his Fax machine on. The Town clerk, e-mailed to say that the warden knew all about it and the Borough said it wasn’t their land. Later that afternoon, the Borough said is was their land and two days later they were gone.
The point of all this is that on past occasions, it was Borough land, but suddenly they didn’t know until pushed into action. During the few years I was a Councillor, I asked both County and Borough to provide the Town Council with a list of land owned within the town just so these sort of issues could be resolved quickly. County provided a list within 7 days of the main sites. Needless to the Borough reaction was totally different. If we wanted to know, then we could go and look up the information ourselves, so what chance do officers have? The whole system seems to rely on memory which is not a system at all.
week ending 30th Sept 2000
Change for the sake of it
I have studied the latest issue of Dacorum Digest and it appears that all the officers who have provided excellent service (generally) over the past 6 or more years, have all been replaced by ‘outsiders’ making career moves. We are being asked to let the council know which of three alternative systems we would prefer it to pursue. Nowhere does it give a reason for any of these changes, nor do you have the option of not changing.
The democratic process is, by it’s very nature inefficient, so that cannot be the reason.
Perhaps the officers who were removed were not doing their job properly - unlikely all of them.
Perhaps the new Chief Executive didn’t like them - not really a good reason.
Perhaps the new Council felt that as the old Chief Executive had retired, it was time for a change - even I can remember his predecessor, but not such a major upheaval.
Perhaps someone out there can enlighten us all just why and assure us the new system will be more democratic (no point in change for any other reason, is there?)
