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2007 Sections
The British continue with their break up of England Brown scraps Regional Assemblies appoint unelected QUANGOs The impending assault upon England Brown's government to scrap 35 councils Brown reinforcing regionalisation through the pay packet England is just a collection of regions according to Brown "More nails in the coffin of England": Regionalisation The people of County Durham emphatically reject reorganisation Brown appoints Ministers for Fragmentation
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03 August 2007 Hexham Courant
Let us have a voicePublished on 03/08/2007
By COLIN TAPPING THE Government is coming under pressure to hold a referendum on its plan to axe Tynedale Council in favour of a single unitary authority covering the vast expanse of Northumberland. The Hexham Courant is leading calls for the Prime Minister to intervene and let the public’s voice be heard on the issue. Last week, the Government announced its intention to sweep away Tynedale Council and the other five district councils in 2009, replacing them with a unitary council covering the whole of the county. In doing so, it rejected a proposal from the district councils to create two unitary councils
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one covering the urban south-east corner of the county, and one covering
rural areas, including Tynedale. Full story; http://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=528023 01 August 2007
Shooting the messenger over uncomfortable truths
The Government's new planning proposal announced earlier this month will sideline local councils rather than empowering them, says Cllr Mitchell and adds that decision making power on planning are being handed over to "unelected quangos".
Just what was the motivation behind Government proposals, announced on 17 July, to make fundamental changes to the relatively new regional planning system introduced in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act of 2004? The Government’s spin says it wants to simplify working arrangements and strengthen accountability through its ‘Review of sub-national economic development and regeneration’. The reality of the Government’s proposals is the transfer of strategic planning powers from regional assemblies (RAs) to regional development agencies (RDAs). The gap between the spin and the reality is vast. In the eight RAs in the country, two-thirds of the members are councillors, elected to their local council and then appointed by that council to the RA. Of these councillor members in the South East, 75% are either the leader or the deputy leader of their authority and they have a direct decision-making role in regional planning, transport, housing and Green Belt issues. By contrast, RDAs are unelected quangos. Their business-led boards are appointed by the Government; they are paid by the Government; they take instruction from the Government and they are accountable to the Government. They meet in secret, behind closed doors. Their nearest brush with accountability to the general public is a single hour-long annual meeting, held in public. While the spin is about “giving greater accountability to local councils”, the reality is that local authorities risk being sidelined in the new system. It seems that, in future, instead of planning collectively and democratically for the region through the RA, council leaders will have some vague consultative or scrutiny role. Whether these leaders will wish to lend a veneer of accountability to the unelected quangos and their decisions about housing, planning, transport and the Green Belt is unclear but it is difficult to identify what benefit such a chimera will have for them or for the local residents they represent.+
Full article http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/13123
The thoughts and ramblings of Kev’s take on it http://kevsoft.co.uk/?subaction=showfull&id=1185974529&archive=
01 August 2007
Excerpt from Cross of St George blog. Well worth a read. Link below.
Some choice!
Anyone doubting the seriousness of the impending assault upon England would do well to look at this official government website, the contents of which date back to May 2002 and were originally posted on what was the pompously named website of 'the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister': Your region, your choice
Under the question: "Is there any specific evidence that devolution in Scotland and Wales has been a success", the anonymous author says with blatant inconsistency: "Also, devolution was the outcome of democratic choice. Those who oppose our proposals should state why the people of the English regions should not be allowed to decide the issue for themselves. What was good enough for Scotland and Wales is surely good enough for the English regions." To which the obvious answer is: What was good enough for Scotland and Wales is surely good enough for ENGLAND!!! Moreover, those who seek to impose unwanted regions on England must state why the people of the ENGLAND are not being allowed to decide the issue for themselves.+
Full article http://crossofstgeorge.net/news/blog.php 26 July 2007 The Times
The Times July 26, 2007 Thousands of jobs to go as councils are scrapped
Ministers face a string of legal challenges after announcing that 35 councils are to be scrapped in a move to streamline services and save £150 million a year. John Healey, the Local Government Minister, announced yesterday that ten new larger unitary authorities would be created by abolishing 35 councils and merging their services.
But the re-organisation, planned for 2009, is likely to involve thousands of redundancies and has been widely opposed by those councils due to disappear. Although there is no right of appeal, several town halls are expected to seek a judicial review. The Conservatives claimed the costs of converting councils would be £121 a head in the areas concerned equivalent to £345 per household. But Mr Healey maintained there would be overall savings of £150 million per annum when services were merged. All district councils will be scrapped in five county councils Cornwall, Durham, Shropshire, Wiltshire and Northumberland where services will be streamlined into authorities on county boundaries. In addition some counties will lose some of their responsibilities to four city councils Bedford, Chester, Ipswich and Exeter. Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, is facing legal challenges from three district councils which claim that the Government has failed to consult the public. Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, Congleton Borough Council and Harrogate Borough Council all seek a judicial review. Brian Spears, chief executive of Durham City Council, which is to be merged with seven other districts into a unitary authority, said he expected several other town halls to mount legal challenges. He said: “The county has claimed there will only be 180 job losses but we have obtained advice that there will be many more.” A recent lobby of Parliament by all districts facing abolition showed that polls across the country showed that the public were implacably opposed to losing their local voice.+ Full article http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2141408.ece?Submitted=true
25 July 2007 Northern Echo
Northern Echo More nails in the coffin of England On the face of it, it's good, very good. In reality it's bad, very bad. The North-East now has its own Government Minister. So do Yorkshire and Humberside, the South-West and the other five so-called regions of England. Unveiled as "regional champions'', their ministers can put the case for their corner of the kingdom at the highest level. The fact that their voices might well drown each other out with their common calls for more investment in schools, roads, businesses, tourism etc, is a mere minor quibble to be directed against these loudly-trumpeted appointments. Crucially, they are further nails in the coffin of England, almost certainly designed as such. For while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland escape the regional carve-up and remain firmly stamped on the map of Europe, England becomes harder to discern.
A phrase often used by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown was probably conceived to recognise yet mask the regional butchering of England: "the nations and regions of Britain''. Strictly, this doesn't exclude England, but since the regional divisions are confined to England, that is almost certainly its meaning. The North-East is said to have the nation's strongest regional identity - which is why it was selected for the referendum expected to endorse regional government. As I noted last week, the 78 per cent rejection caused
Tony Blair to acknowledge that: "Teesside didn't feel the necessary link with Tyneside". And while Middlesbrough might be lukewarm about its Yorkshire lineage, try telling the good folk of Redcar and Cleveland that they are not Yorkshire. On August 1, Redcar hosts this year's major events for Yorkshire Day, which is celebrated with mounting enthusiasm each year. But Gordon Brown seems as keen as Tony Blair to divide England into regions to fit the EU's pattern. Coupled with the appointment of regional ministers, he has scrapped regional assemblies but switched their considerable planning role to the regional development agencies - up here One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward. Neither the regional assemblies nor the development agencies are democratically elected. Sadly, few people realise that, in recent years, their elected councils have been required to work to strategies produced or promoted by these self-important quangos. But at least the assemblies were drawn largely from local councils. Gordon Brown's transfer of their powers to the even less democratic development agencies, while undertaking to hand more power back to communities, is truly Orwellian. Nick Brown, the Minister for the North-East, says: "I will be working closely with the development agency and the Government office in the region and having early meetings with the trade unions, the chamber of commerce, academics and health service staff.'' No mention of elected councillors, you will notice. Sidelined even as they are promised a greater role, they will be as impotent as the rest of us to halt the much bigger change - the disappearance of England. The school curriculum is being shaken up again. Out goes Winston Churchill as an historical figure worth studying. But pupils must learn about the Second World War. And, presumably, there will be a medal for any history teacher who fulfils both goals. While having no wish to be flippant about the disastrous floods, I'm surprised not to have seen the headline that famously concluded the most popular episode of The Likely Lads: England Flooded Out.+ Full article
22 July 2007
21 July 2007 Telegraph
Telegraph By
Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor, Sunday Telegraph
Full story http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/22/nwage122.xml 19 July 2007 Daily Mail
Daily Mail Richard Littlejohn It's nul points for England yet again22:06pm 19th July 2007 Gordon Brown flew to Belfast this week to attend a summit meeting of the British-Irish Council at Stormont. He stayed just about long enough to get his photograph taken, then hopped on a plane to Germany to meet Angela Merkel, so he could set about the real business of selling out Britain to Europe without bothering to hold a referendum. To be honest, I'd never heard of the British-Irish Council before - and I doubt many of you have either. Apparently, it was set up a few years ago to allow the leaders of the devolved parliaments to pretend that they're statesmen.
Bertie Ahern doesn't take it especially seriously. He legged it about five minutes after Gordon without stopping for a glass of stout, let alone lunch. But it's quite a big deal for Alex Salmond, Ian Paisley, Martin McGuinness and whoever happens to be head banana in Wales this week. The members of the council are listed as Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom. Anyone missing from that list? Correct. There's no place for England. Even though the English comprise four-fifths of the population and pick up most of the bills, we are not deemed worthy of a place at the top table. Instead, while the Isle of Man gets to go to the party, we must content ourselves with being represented by a Scot wearing a "United Kingdom" hat. Now, you may think who sits on the British-Irish Council is no big deal. And you'd be right, were it not part of a much larger scandal. For all his drivel about "Britishness", Gordon treats the democratic rights of the English with undisguised contempt.+ Full article 19 June 2007
Sedgefield Borough Council announcement The people of County Durham emphatically reject government reorganisation plans.The people of County Durham have delivered a resounding NO to plans to create a single unitary authority across the whole of County Durham. Residents were invited to take part in a referendum, commissioned by the Durham Districts’ after it was felt they were not getting a chance to have their say in the debate over the creation of a single council. The District Councils engaged Electoral Reform Services, a completely independent body, to carry out the Referendum among all electors in the County. Referendums, on issues such as local government reorganisation, are recognised by government as a valid form of consulting with local residents.+ 28 June 2007 No 10 website
The Queen has been pleased to approve the following Ministerial appointments. Minister for the North East of England and Deputy Chief Whip (Treasurer of Her Majesty's Household)The Rt Hon Nick Brown MP Minister for the North West Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber Minister for the Olympics and for London [2] Minister for the South West Minister for the East Midlands Minister for the West Midlands Minister for the East of England
http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page12189.asp
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