A Close Vote at 32 to 23 Peter Hillman ?

MP claims 'super council' plan could have come from Disneyland
The county goes up against the districts.

By ANTHONY McLEAN
A PROPOSAL to create a single super council in Northumberland could have come straight out of Disneyland, the House of Commons has been told.
Blyth Valley Labour MP Ronnie Campbell slammed leading officers and councillors of Northumberland County Council for using the authority as their own personal "gravy train".And he said the council's members were fighting to create a single unitary authority in Northumberland because "they have good jobs", which could be lost in any reorganisation.Mr Campbell was speaking during a debate on local government reorganisation in Northumberland, brought to the House of Commons by Liberal Democrat MP for Berwick Alan Beith.Mr Campbell told MPs: "Turkeys do not like an early Christmas, and of course members of the county council are fighting."They have good jobs and we all know what happens when reorganisation and boundary changes take place."Even Members of Parliament lose their seats."Council members must accept that such things happen, although I do not blame them for fighting to keep their seats."However, the county council is not a gravy train for them."It is for the people of Northumberland to decide what they want, and they are overwhelmingly in favour of a two-tier system."I have seen the submission. I do not want to speak untruths, but some of it reads like Walt Disneyland."The county council is clutching at straws."The services it runs are just about zero."It doesn't have many stars for anything."Mr Campbell also said the £1m raised from the closure of care homes has been plundered to pay for the Putting the Learner First project, a controversial shift from a three-tier to a two-tier education system."The council has two stars for two services and none for services to the vulnerable because it has closed all the homes."The council acted rashly and, I think, made a big mistake."The Government did not give the county money for the schools programme."I believe all the money, including the £1m that was supposed to be saved for the old people's home helps, was put into education."In the budget a couple of years ago transport was cut by half and the money put into education."I am sure this is what the council is doing with all the other services, so all the other services suffer in order to get the schools building programme on the agenda. That is a big, big mistake."All four of Northumberland's MPs, representing the three main parties, took part in the debate.All four added their support to a plan by the district councils to create two authorities in a rural urban split.Junior communities and local government minister Angela Smith pledged that ministers would carefully consider all the representations made on the issue, including the views expressed by MPs in the Commons.She said: "There are few occasions in the House when all three parties agree."County'a Labour group reject public consultation ideaLABOUR councillors have refused to hold a public consultation over proposed changes to local government.Members of Northumberland County Council's Labour-controlled executive said there would not be enough time to hold a consultation on the proposed shake-up of local councils before a Government deadline of June 22.A motion calling for immediate consultation was rejected at a meeting of the full council in a 32 to 23 vote.Coun Sue Bolam, who introduced the motion into the council chamber, said taxpayers needed to have a say on the shake-up.Since the Government announced a review of local authorities both Northumberland County Council and the six districts have put forward their own proposals.The county council is pressing for a single super council covering the whole of the county, while the districts want to see two councils in a rural-urban split.Coun Bolam said: "We have all been out knocking on the doorsteps over these past few weeks in the run-up to the local elections and people have been
asking about the local government re-organisation."Yet the voters and taxpayers are not going to have any say over it."They will simply be told what is going to happen."Whatever happened to democracy?"The only consultation that is going on is being held with 'stakeholders' – large regional or national organisations that have no interest in democracy in Northumberland."The voters are simply being told what will happen and this is not good enough."Coun Peter Hillman, the new leader of Northumberland County Council, said the real motive behind Coun Bolam's motion was to hold a referendum."Consultation is a very important thing. I agree with that."But there is no space in the Government's plans to hold a referendum."Meanwhile, district councils in Shropshire are taking the Government to the High Court in an attempt to derail the plans for a council shake-up.
Last Updated: 16 May 2007