Quote:
Originally Posted by g jones
The debate about County Hall (72%) and the Districts (15%) is important. There is foi t there is duplication neither is their any doubt that the County element is remote.
Britain has a significant number of unitary authorities, all the metropolitan areas. It is also clear that they are be fitting significantly from City deals and that having two authorities causes confusion and when they compete with each other provide a disservice.
There is no doubt that we are paying several people to do the same job and Hyndburn has merged some services with Blackburn and Rossendale.
If we want deep cuts we have to make tough decisions. The luxury of multiple people doing the same job in each area is costly and cutting front line services to protect these 'multiple senior highly paid jobs' is not the choice I would make.
If we want strong leadership, if we want 72% of services brought back to East Lancashire, if we want to end multiple high paid jobs, have 60 just councillors instead of 300, to be taken seriously by government and be able to lobby government, then we need a unitary east lancs council.
Some would disagree but I'd be interested in the rational for keeping the status quo.
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For once I can agree with you Graham, I have long been an advocate of Unitary Authorities, Hyndburn should have taken that road when Blackburn decided to go it alone back in the 90s, it would mean everything raised in rates (council tax) would be retained and spent here in Hyndburn, plus streamlining of local government officialdom, cutting down on unneeded staff. Its an eye opener going to county hall, I couldn't believe how many people were walking about with a piece of paper in their hand looking busy.