I wrote before Christmas concerning the Government’s intention for Kent to have a Mayor and to reorganise local Government to abolish district and borough councils, replacing them with 3 or 4 large unitary authorities of at least 500,000 people.
The proposed local government reorganisation is not devolution as I recognise by the meaning of the word. Devolution means more powers closer to communities. Instead, this is a Government that wishes to reduce the number of district and borough councils in the shires and replace them with lesser numbers of larger authorities. This move will ensure fewer councillors to represent your particular area and mean that the centre of this is further from our area. This is taking power away, not moving it closer.
One of the reasons our area is such a lovely place to live is because we’ve got a great district council. It’s not something that people will necessarily recognise in their daily lives, but the clean streets, regular bin collections, lovely floral displays, community activities, great leisure facilities and play areas are all down to the district council. In resident surveys, our council comes out exceptionally highly in comparison to other councils, and has previously been recognised at awards for being the best council in the country. We remain the last council standing in Kent that provides a weekly bin AND recycling service.
The innovation of the property strategy, including leasing the hotel opposite Sevenoaks station, brings in a substantial sum which helps maintain services. Sevenoaks is a financially well run smart council, which Conservatives excel at providing, which doesn’t intrude too much in people’s lives but tries to improve the area and keep things running well.
I will not willingly swap an excellent local council based in our district for a larger authority, likely based in Maidstone, which due to population size and demographics, will almost certainly soak up a disproportionate amount of the energy and resources available.
