Quite simply, why do we need the county council?
IN the September edition of Inside Lincolnshire, county council leader Martin Hill again claims that its cost per copy is 13p.
Perhaps he will accept my invitation to explain how this figure is calculated?
I did respond to his consultation, noting that it could not hope to provide a complete information channel for the residents of the county and that the county council had a perfectly adequate channel through its libraries, of which, most of its branches are now open less than 50 per cent of their available days.
Undoubtedly it will, along with other heritage aspects, be under further pressure as further economising is sought.
Prior to these service reductions the book-buying budget was cut ergo book borrowings decline – QED – justifying further cuts.
Page 14 provides data that in these tougher times, it could provide more than £750,000 in savings.
Quite simply why do we need the county council?
I believe in the concept of counties, historically, but why, in these days of more and more privatisation of public services, surely 77 councillors' attendance allowances would be a useful saving to the county, let alone the associated costs of servicing it?
Necessary county-wide decisions could be made by consortia of the local councils and possibly unitary authorities.
Why do we have a county council?
In the 1950s the rationalisation of, and hence greater control of, the numerous inefficient English local councils, large, small and in some instances micro, became a Whitehall aim.
Central Government justified its aim by seeking economies of scale by merging councils to the ultimate detriment of their face to face contact with their residents. There are probably numerous examples throughout the county, but in 1966 Kesteven County Council bitterly fought a proposed merger with Holland County Council and its loss of North Hykeham to the City of Lincoln Council, with its two new grammar schools used as its defence.
In practice its loan balance would have been transferred.
In 1973 Lincolnshire County Council merged with its underlying local councils and the south bank of the Humber separated.
Neither am I believer in the privatisation of public services. Now is the time to debate the delivery of necessary public services – not what the Government feels is required – and then decide the mechanism needed.
The history of such reviews, as shown above, is not encouraging.
Everybody fights their own corner, but let's try to act for the good of all.
In closing, can I remind the Prime Minister of his desire, before being elected, to cut the number of Members of Parliament to 500? Another saving.
RONALD PRICE Meadowlake Crescent, Lincoln.
Comments
by Colin Mair, Coningsby
Thursday, September 02 2010, 7:47AM
“We have too many councillors and too many council employees. To reduce these numbers means fighting vested interests within the council. If central government tries to do this they use a big axe that ends up hurting us all.
The only other option is to vote in an executive mayor who hopefully carries out a cost saving and efficiency mandate. To do this for all key councils we simply need to create a petition asking for a referendum on this issue. If 5% of the electorate in the council region sign the petition the council are obliged to hold a referendum. If the majority of the electorate want an executive mayor we then have an election.
This doesn't always work. Peter Davies, the executive mayor in Doncaster, has been fighting vested interests for over a year. Councillors have twice tried a vote of no confidence and failed to get rid of him. Resistance from within the council has made things so difficult for him that the government has had to step in to help.
The person who becomes an executive mayor with a mandate of cost cutting and improved efficiencies need to not be afraid of making enemies! At least we would then have the head of the council reporting directly to us, instead of an unelected overpaid Chief Executive Officer who gets the job through the 'Job For The Boys' network!”