Would You Trust The County Council’s Figures?

In a joint statement the Leaders of South and Mid Beds District Councils condemn the latest County Council attempt to undermine the joint work that is necessary to achieve successful change in Bedfordshire. Councillor Tricia Turner and Councillor Norman Costin today said:

“We all know that the County Council did not like the decision made by the Secretary of State in July.  Unfortunately their attempts to reverse that are becoming increasingly desperate and are just the sort of actions that bring local government into disrepute.

“It was only a matter of a few days ago that some of the most senior members and officers of the County Council met jointly with us and gave categorical assurance that they believed  the two proposed new Unitaries in Bedfordshire are both viable and workable.  We now see that within days that position has changed to one where they see only one option, and of course that is the County Council’s own lost cause.

“We are afraid that their so-called review has manufactured a new blizzard of numbers to try to justify their increasingly untenable position.

“There are already 30 similar unitary authorities across the country that are facing, and dealing with, the pressures and challenges that would face the two new Unitaries in Bedfordshire.  No one is pretending that that will be easy but equally not one of those unitary authorities would be seeking to go back into a two-tier system under a County Council banner.

“It is particularly disturbing to us that the County Council’s increasing desperation has now turned to making wild and unsubstantiated statements about future services in Bedfordshire.  We know that the area is fortunate to have many top quality professionals living and working in Bedfordshire who would wish to continue to do that, along with many others that we are sure we will attract if we can get past the County Council’s scaremongering.”