Your MP writes (From Worcester News)

Your MP writes

9:30am Thursday 4th January 2007

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THE decision by the county council not to be bounced by the Government and local Labour MPs into a botched and rushed plan to abolish our district councils is really good news.
There’s room to improve local government – I was one of those supporting the proposal for unitary government for south Worcestershire in 1993. Then it was local Labour politicians who foolishly led the campaign to stop this happening.

Abolishing our district councils simply wouldn’t release £15m for schools and social services. The sum saved would be much less because of the complexities of council finance – and that smaller sum can be found without disruptive upheavals.
That’s what the county has, rightly, voted to do.
The merger process would cost a lot of money – redundancies, creating new jobs, opening new offices – millions of pounds that would have to be paid for in our council tax bills for years.
The even larger sums that one Labour MP has claimed would be achieved show breathtaking ignorance about local government finance. The balances held by councils are not sums of money lying idle that our long-suffering schools could benefit from. They are earmarked for projects like the re-opening of the Droitwich canals or to fund improvements to our health service or recreational facilities. Spend them and these projects never happen.
Perhaps most importantly, local views matter. The Government wanted to force the abolition of our district councils without any local discussion about the implications – and they wanted it all settled by January 25. There just wasn’t time to have the local debate.
There are at least four possible ways of making things work better:
l A single Worcestershire council, with all the district councils – including the very efficient councils in Worcester and Wychavon – abolished.
l A north Worcestershire and a south Worcestershire council, with three districts being merged to create the new councils, and Worcestershire County Council abolished.
l Unitary district councils with the county abolished and larger functions such as education run by joint boards.
l The current structure of county and district councils with more shared services and a redistribution of functions to save costs and create greater clarity.
Let’s discuss change but don’t let’s be bounced. This Government loves abolishing things. Worcestershire should be congratulated for standing up the bullying and opting for a sensible approach, offering the council tax payer value for money while avoiding a rushed change that we would have come to regret.
l This column was held over from Thursday, December 28.