I speak as a Parish Councillor, the lowest cog in the administrative wheel that is local government in England.
We receive many daft letters from our district council leaders and the latest on “Localism” is a classic of ineptitude and time wasting.
I recently spent several hours spread over many days, with another Parish council, trying to understand the “requirement” for Parish Councils (PCs) to formulate and write a “Neighbourhood Plan” (NP).
District Councils have to create a “Local Plan” covering the development (or not) aspirations for their local areas. One of our Parish councillors went to a “Training session” and found that each NP would cost in the region of £5,000 and was advised that not to write one would be a grave error with possibly grave consequences.
Words fail me (well, clearly not, but almost!); here we are in debt up to our ears and sinking faster by the day, with a national water and energy supply crisis barely mentioned at all by government or the press and a group of District Councillors & Coalition politicians are blithering on about the Localism Bill.
If you can actually bother to read it (I did, and I wish I hadn’t) you discover that there are no definitions for the “idea” and certainly no money to enable ‘acts of localism’, but nevertheless a group of councillors has been called together to ‘specialise’ in the undefined pile of poo that is “Localism “and are prepared to field questions on a subject that, by their own admission, they don’t “fully understand”.
The Localism Bill is really a Centralism bill
Joe Anderson: “I’m not prepared to try and pretend the Big Society is going to deliver” The leader of Liverpool City Council has written to the prime minister withdrawing its involvement from his “big society” plans.
But here, dear reader, is the crunch; the epitome of stupidity, consigning Localism to the pyre of empty, sound bite driven, insincere policies such as “Education, education, education”; “Joined up thinking on transport”; and to cap them all, “We are all in this together” etc.
If the ‘Neighbourhood plan differs from the ”Local plan’ – the LP wins.
If the LP differs from the Government Plan – the government wins.
So then, just what is the point – where is devolved power?
No-where – that’s where!
Well worth £5,000 of tax payers money!
Cameraman and fatty Pickles are lying stinkpots – but we knew that really didn’t we? Cameraman hasn’t even defined “Big Society” yet; we are still waiting Dave, well, those of us who have an attention span of more than 48 hours anyway. )
What a load of political poo. Makes me mad!
Happy Christmas & a good New Year 😉 to all my readers (Thanks Peter!)
When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.
Republic’s goal is simple: replace the monarchy with an elected head of state and more democratic political system. Instead of a king, we want someone chosen by the people, not running the government but representing the nation independently of our politicians.
A monarchy should not exist in a democratic society. The majority of us believe in democracy, and think democracy makes for a fairer, more prosperous society. Who of us think the British version of democracy is working well?
Too much power in the hands of government, it’s too difficult to hold people to account We see corruption and cronyism everywhere, especially the Lords and in the honours system.