Local Govt Reform

[Lonan3]

Most of us thought that hese ludicrous proposals had been buried, but it seems that Mr Rimington is determined to resurrect them.

From IoMtoday.co.uk

 

"A final attempt will be made in Tynwald on Tuesday to push through plans to scrap the Island's historic structure of local government in favour of a system made up of four regional authorities and Douglas.

Those proposals, which had sparked fury, particularly from the rural districts, were abandoned once before in favour of a compromise.

But now that compromise, involving the creation of works boards which would take over waste collection and housing from the local authorities, has been abandoned too after it found little support from either the urban or rural areas.

So the original plan has been brought out of mothballs to face a crunch Tynwald vote."

 

and from the same article:

 

"Mr Rimington said that a public consultation on the proposals elicited only 40 responses."

 

There may have been 'only 40' responses to it, but meetings were held by most of the local commissioners etc and, not only were they invariably well attended but, in most cases, they totally rejected the proposals and vowed to oppose them. How he is then able to say that "I suspect most people in the Island do not have a strong view one way or another" is quite beyond me.

 

Ultimately, I suspect that most of us have a great deal more confidence in the ability of our unpaid local authorities than we are ever likely to have in Mr Rimington and his overpaid motley crew. Local authorities have proved, time and again that they are more efficient and cost-effective than central government could ever be and any attempt to 'centralise them' ought to be resisted wholeheartedly.

[Alex]

totally agree Lonan3

[simon]

On the other hand: many of the costs of running local services are duplicated and / or non standard - eg different IT systems, contracts etc. Fewer contracts is a good idea and generally cheaper IMO. It's daft that different authorities are running different rent collection software or employing different accountants. All of that stuff, and much more, could sensibly be standardised. Same as most of the roads are now owned and managed by central government.

 

Some of the authorities collect the rates themselves. Others have the rates collected for them by Treasury. Some have a policy of collecting 100% of the rates. Others don't.

 

Taking a cautious middle route - I think that the gradual, careful and explained merging of, at least many of the services, is a good idea. And I do feel that we have rather too many local authorities. Too many elected representatives and not always enough actual paid staff to get all of the work done. And, in my opinion, the paid staff are often much more useful, bright and helpful than the weaker of the elected people.

 

I also have a feeling that a system of fewer authorities might weed out the weaker and more popularist candidates - it might lead to the more sensible candidates being elected, from a wider hinterland. Which would benefit Manx politics in general. Stronger candidates at a local level means better candidates ultimately standing for the Keys. Bringing up the standard.

 

Much of the area surrounding Ramsey could be sensibly be merged, for example. There is no doubt that people living close to Ramsey benefit from services provided by Ramsey rates whilst paying lower rates themselves. Extending the town boundary would be a great idea. If you shop for essentials in Ramsey then you should probably pay your rates in Ramsey too. But Ramsey has its rates collected by the Treasury and (IIRC) does not collect 100%

 

So I think that I'm cautiously in favour of local government merger and reform. I think it should be based on looking at what the various authorities do really well - and creating standards.

 

EDIT:

There may have been 'only 40' responses to it, but meetings were held by most of the local commissioners etc and, not only were they invariably well attended but, in most cases, they totally rejected the proposals and vowed to oppose them. How he is then able to say that "I suspect most people in the Island do not have a strong view one way or another" is quite beyond me.

 

I'd expect many of the local elected members to oppose merger of the authorities. Likewise I'd expect the electorate of rural areas to oppose paying town rates. Very few elected representatives will campaign for mergers - since the mergers (though perhaps necessary and right) may not be popular.

 

I think that reforms are inevitable. It's a question of the nature of the reforms. How they are drafted and managed - and how they are properly explained and implemented such that there is the widest possible consensus without any watering down of what needs to happen - which is greater efficiency and fairness.