STOP PRESS — DOWNING STREET STEPS IN — STOP PRESS
Having been encouraged by the Government to put in a bid for a Surrey wide unitary, No. 10 has now slammed on the brakes. With the second coronavirus wave upon us, worrying about local council structures is unnecessary and distracting. And a row between conservative councillors is not good PR for the Government. Tim Oliver, the Surrey Leader, has complained “quite why this government keeps starting fires and then walking away I really don’t know. Discouraging.” He has vowed to continue to develop plans and insisted that the current two-tier structure must be reviewed.
Although there has been a tactical halt by the Government as regards Surrey, they have started plans to implement county-wide unitary councils in Cumbria, Somerset and North Yorkshire. In due course they will look again at Surrey.
At the last full council meeting, Leader Tim Oliver defiantly refused to give details of the sums spent so far on his unitary plans and refused to hold any discussions with the borough councils, including Reigate & Banstead.
Update: The Surrey County Council survey has come under criticism. “When is a Survey not a Survey”.
More from RASSU on this subject here.
In July this year Surrey County Council announced its intention to abolish the 11 Borough and District Councils, replacing them with a single council representing Surrey’s 1.2 million residents.
They have no mandate to do this. The establishment of a single unitary council will erode democracy in Surrey. In response to this #Residents Against Surrey Single Unitary (#RASSU) has been launched. You can find out more information at: https://rassu.org.uk/
Your support is needed and you can do this in 3 different ways:
- Sign the petition: http://petitions.surreycc.gov.uk/unitary/
- Forward this email to your friends, family, neighbours, colleagues and co-workers.
- Join the Campaign: https://rassu.org.uk/join-the-campaign
The creation of a Surrey single unitary authority will result in :
- Loss of decision making and control of local issues, by local people, for local people
- Dilution of democracy. Only a handful of councillors will represent the residents of each Borough on a remote council, with local issues lost in the vast agenda of a unitary authority representing some 1.2 million people.
- Handing total control to Surrey County Council, which has a well-documented history of consistently failing to provide good services or value for money.
- Taking £100s of millions out of our borough assets.
- Creation of a body three times the size recommended for a unitary authority (which should represent 400,000 people, not 1.2 million people).
- A hurried and undemocratic decision.
This is a once in a lifetime choice ! If you care about your community and want to ensure that your interests are represented by local people who understand and are engaged with residents, please take action today.