The new Council is going to create a new layer of local government: “Belonging Communities”. It’s not clear what they will do: they have the potential to emasculate the elected Parish Councils and to increase centralisation, although the stated intention is to increase local involvement in decisions. The cynic in me thinks that when people in government say they want to increase local involvement they are looking at appearances rather than reality.
We currently have an elected County Council, elected District Councils and elected Parish Councils. In future we will have an elected unitary County Council, (replacing the 6 District councils and the old County Council) which will create 3 Area Communities and 27 Belonging Communities. The Parish Councils will remain.
Plans for how this will operate have been published: “The Whole Council Blueprint Design”.
It is vague about how the layers will interact, and in particular how this new “Belonging Community” layer will operate. It says there will be no prescription about what they will do, but they will be community forums bringing together the parish councils, development trusts and other community groups in an area. They could become “accredited” and have responsibilities and potentially budgets delegated to them. Specifically, they will “inform and influence community chest funds”. This means that an unelected and partially self-appointed group will be able to override and direct the elected parish councils – which in the Bamburgh Division at least have done good work.
I can see there are some topics where Parish Councils need to act together – but this can happen now. They do not need a Belonging Community forum to do so. The imposition of this extra layer will suck responsibility away from the Parish Councils and diffuse it amongst the layers noted above. Such diffusion always increases the control of the centre. And I am sure that that is the intention.
The three Area Communities are too large to provide local relevance for decisions: the Bamburgh Division for example will be in the “North” Area, which broadly comprises the old Berwick, Alnwick and Castle Morpeth district councils. The Area will be responsible for most regulated services, such as planning, licensing and waste disposal. Coupled with the new Belonging Community layer and the reduction of influence of Parish Councils, this all suggests a real distancing of services from people.
We currently have an elected County Council, elected District Councils and elected Parish Councils. In future we will have an elected unitary County Council, (replacing the 6 District councils and the old County Council) which will create 3 Area Communities and 27 Belonging Communities. The Parish Councils will remain.
Plans for how this will operate have been published: “The Whole Council Blueprint Design”.
It is vague about how the layers will interact, and in particular how this new “Belonging Community” layer will operate. It says there will be no prescription about what they will do, but they will be community forums bringing together the parish councils, development trusts and other community groups in an area. They could become “accredited” and have responsibilities and potentially budgets delegated to them. Specifically, they will “inform and influence community chest funds”. This means that an unelected and partially self-appointed group will be able to override and direct the elected parish councils – which in the Bamburgh Division at least have done good work.
I can see there are some topics where Parish Councils need to act together – but this can happen now. They do not need a Belonging Community forum to do so. The imposition of this extra layer will suck responsibility away from the Parish Councils and diffuse it amongst the layers noted above. Such diffusion always increases the control of the centre. And I am sure that that is the intention.
The three Area Communities are too large to provide local relevance for decisions: the Bamburgh Division for example will be in the “North” Area, which broadly comprises the old Berwick, Alnwick and Castle Morpeth district councils. The Area will be responsible for most regulated services, such as planning, licensing and waste disposal. Coupled with the new Belonging Community layer and the reduction of influence of Parish Councils, this all suggests a real distancing of services from people.
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