According to the local advertiser the Labour MP, Ivan Lewis is calling for virtual independance from Bury for the Boroughs 6 townships.

Whilst the detail of his letter to the press doesn’t quite go that far in reality, he might as well have gone for independance for all the sense his remarks make.

Now as a good old fashioned liberal , I’m all for devolution and bringing power down to the lowest possible unit of government etc, power to the people!

BUT the Lewis Plan is pure fairy tales meets electioneering meets desperation.

He calls for Area Partnerships to be replaced by Area Boards. Whoopee, so we scrap our partnerships with the Police, NHS , Voluntary sector and community organisations do we? 

He then says that “Significant funds” will be devolved to the local boards. What does significant mean, where does this come from. Is Bury Council replaced by an Area Board as well or does Bury just become a glorified central supplies and managements body?

The trouble with this proposal is that it hasn’t been thought through, and that is because it’s a blatant election gimmick. Of course prior to the past 3 years of Tory rule at Bury we had 21 years of Labour control. 21 years without a hint of “significant funds” delegated to local areas. Funny how Labour politicians don’t believe in devolving power from the centre until they lose power.  

Then of course he omits to mention that Area Partnerships and the current system of local Government has all been brought in by this Labour Government, with precious little say or influence allowed by the local councils concerned.

Gimmicks notwithstanding, I do hold certain sympathies with his comments. He may well be reacting to local dissatisfaction over Bury Conservatives handling of regeneration in Radcliffe, and their treatment of local people over the threat to Civic halls etc. We should not forget by the way the shocking manner Labour treated local people over the review of High Schools when they were in control.

What we do need locally is to re-connect local power with local people, that does mean devolving decision making and appropriate funds to the 6 Towns of Bury. But if it is to work properly whilst maintaining the economies of scale and the savings provided by one central administration, then there have to be clear areas of responsibility to be devolved.

A good example that I have often cited is our parks. Clearly it is plain for all to see that certain parks fall under certain areas. It would therefore be easy to pass responsibility for local parks to local area partnerships, giving local people a greater say in how they are run. Meanwhile savings could be maintained by having one central parks staff and management. That way we see value for money and greater community involvement.

That I feel is a more common sense approach that utilise the current Town hall structure to the advantage of local areas whilst passing greater responsibility and influence to local people and their elected representatives. And, if better, unlike the Lewis plan it could be implemented very quickly.

So, no need for gimmicks just common sense and political will.