Councils To Submit Unitary Plan To Government
Mid and South Bedfordshire District Councils have organised special District Council meetings for next week to approve the submission document for a new Central Bedfordshire unitary authority (South Bedfordshire District Council meets on 11 December, Mid Beds District Council on 12 December).
The submission will follow the principles contained in the complementary document, which was part of Bedford Borough’s successful submission to Government in June.
In a joint statement the leaders of Mid and South Bedfordshire District Councils, Tricia Turner and Norman Costin, said: “We welcome the Minister’s confirmation once again of our position and the direction we should all be travelling. We will submit the proposed document to Government by their deadline of 17th December, and after that we hope to have an early announcement of the way forward. We have again invited the County Council's endorsement of the proposals which has had the benefit of their input led by the Deputy County Council leader.
Once we get to the implementation stage we will be involving Town and Parish councils and other key partners and stakeholders in the next crucial phase of detailed design and implementation so that the new council is up and running smoothly from its start date of 1 April 2009.
“Both districts feel it is crucial for our citizens, services and staff that we work together with both Bedford Borough and Bedfordshire County to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements which we hope will be two new unitary authorities and a better deal for all citizens, taxpayers, and customers in Bedfordshire.”
“We of course note the latest County Council press release following these Ministerial announcements this week. The comparisons the County Council draw are not relevant and their figures have already been taken into account through the Government’s assessment. We continue to urge the Government to press on with their process so that the final decision can be made which we believe will enable us to create two new councils to deliver excellent services for our residents in Bedfordshire. We hope, if it cannot happen before, that once this final decision is made the County Council leadership will then take a full and positive part in the future arrangements.”
Additional Note:
The direct comparison drawn by the County Council between the decisions taken about Ipswich and Exeter to Bedfordshire’s situation is not correct. And the comparison is not relevant. The case those Councils had to make was how could unitary local government work for them when they would not be reducing the total number of Councils in Suffolk and Devon respectively. They would be creating a new council and still retaining the County council and all the other District Councils .Our plan reduces the number of Councils in Bedfordshire from 4 to 2 and that is where we make savings. We have said in our proposals that those savings will go towards helping support service spending and bear down on Council tax levels.
