Opinion : Let’s have a unitary council for Wycombe
Arriving home yesterday evening my good self tuned into the news section of this website and read the news article headlined ‘Bucks County Council to develop business case for a single unitary council for Buckinghamshire‘.
For quite a while people have been talking about changes to the way local government services are delivered, indeed my good self has been a vocal supporter of rationalising the current system.
Isn’t is daft that one organisation looks after the roads yet another organises the refuse collections however both are funded from the Council Tax?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for streamlining the way public services work and eliminating waste and duplication however any changes should deliver services that are better and more accountable to the people who pay for them.
After reading the aforementioned news article what worries me is the fact that the case is being developed for a ‘unitary council in Buckinghamshire‘.
If the unitary council will be for Buckinghamshire then yours truly is totally opposed as my good self feels that instead we should be having a unitary council for Wycombe.
In my opinion the last thing we need is a Soviet Union style organisation popping up in Aylesbury contrived from the amalgamation of the former district councils and based in a Kremlin located miles away at Aylesbury.
The services for us here in Wycombe should be run and organised wholly from within Wycombe. The delivery of all municipal services should be from a building in Wycombe and controlled by people elected wholly by the people of Wycombe.
I would find it most worrying if any publicly funded organisation used public money to fund a study the outcome of which would give that organisation more power.
In my opinion any study, or preparation of business case, that changes the way local services are provided should be undertaken by an independent organisation or by central government. In other words don’t give the turkeys a vote on whether or not we should have Christmas this year.
As far as I’m concerned if there were to be changes to the way local government works then before they are implemented a local referendum should take place and the people who actually pay for and receive the services should have the final say.
Personally yours truly would like to see a business case prepared for a unitary council for High Wycombe and the Wycombe district comprised of elected members from the current local electoral wards.
Localisation and local accountability is the key not centralisation and removal of control from those on the ground who know what’s really happening.
What do you think?
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