The huge shake-up of councils in Essex has been described as “Alice In Wonderlandesque” by an independent political party in south Essex that faces losing out to Labour and the Tories. The People’s Independent Party, which runs Castle Point Council with the Canvey Independent Party, slammed the Government and Essex County Council for the plans to revolutionise councils and to postpone next year’s elections. The reform is expected to abolish current councils and new, larger authorities created.
The independent party said it was “outraged” at a “mad hatters tea party masquerading as an Essex County Council meeting” during which the Tories will be seeking to “bestow powers upon themselves with no public mandate”. The new Labour Government has announced its plans to reform council structure across the country – in Essex; it is set to see the 15 authorities scrapped and replaced with much fewer councils and a new mayor with a number of responsibilities and powers. Details and exact plans are yet to be announced, but councils and council bosses are being given a chance to outline their wishes for the future.
Currently, Essex has a two-tier system, with 12 district councils, two unitary councils and one county council. Powers, responsibilities and services are split up between district and county councils, while unitary councils run all services independently from the county council. In Essex, the district councils are Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Castle Point, Chelmsford, Colchester, Epping Forest, Harlow, Maldon, Rochford, Tendring, and Uttlesford. The unitary authorities are Thurrock and Southend, and the county council is Essex County Council.
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A spokesman for the People’s Independent Party said: “In what is now becoming the Alice In Wonderlandesque world of Essex county politics, the Conservative administration will be seeking to move power away from residents by abolishing local councils and moving to combined unitary councils. In the case of Castle Point, which has a population of 90,000, Castle Point Council will be dissolved and will be absorbed into a mega unitary council with a population target of at least 500,000.
“They are seeking to postpone the planned Essex County Council elections in May, where all the county councillors would have needed to put themselves up for re-election because the administration will be too busy with their ‘devolution plans’ to face the electorate.
“We are outraged that at the ‘mad hatters tea party’ masquerading as an Essex County Council meeting, they will be seeking to bestow powers upon themselves with no public mandate, to extend their tenure because it is more convenient for themselves, to force a costly and disruptive reorganisation where no proof can be put forward of financial or efficiency savings from previous examples of such reorganisations.
“Why are these changes being made when no discernible advantages can be exhibited, if not to ensure power is kept within the Conservative and Labour power bases and move decision-making, on such areas as planning, away from locals, who know their areas’ characteristics and needs, to more remote unaccountable offices.
“Local councils have no right in law to have an input on whether they can be dissolved or not, but a group of People’s Independent Party local councillors will be in the public gallery at the meeting and will have submitted questions, and we expect those questions to be read out and answered.”
Kevin Bentley, Tory leader of Essex County Council, said: “We don’t want to turn this into a political football match. Rather, we need to be focusing on what is in the long-term interests of residents. This is about improving the structures of local government to secure quality services at costs taxpayers can afford.
“Postponing elections is a decision which would not be taken lightly, but it has proven to work in other areas where this type of organisational change has already taken place. The Government is setting an ambitious timeline, which will see the first of this work done by March. The law would prevent us from communicating as politicians during a crucial period, and we cannot let anything distract us from getting the best deal for Essex.
“I am keen to hear the views of all our members on January 10, but it is clear that postponement would minimise disruption by allowing the simplification process to take place so that day-to-day services would be able to continue unhindered for residents. Ultimately, of course, it would be for the government to decide.”