Devolution and Revolution.
There are big structural changes in government coming up – at all levels, Local and National. With the EU referendum in June it will be interesting to see what our National and International political structure looks like in 2 years time.
Lets start off at the national level. Currently we have about 650 members of parliament and each of these represents between 21,769 (in the Western Isles) and 108,804 constituents (The Isle of Wight). MP’s in urban areas tend to represent smaller communities then rural and the result is different levels of workload as well as disproportionate representation by vote.
The Government is looking to set an average of 79,000 constituents for every seat with a 5% tolerance. The good news is that this would reduce the number of MP’s from 650 to 600 and thus reduce some of our costs of administration. Fairer representation is also ensured but at the risk of some odd shaped constituencies that will cross over county boundaries.
The Boundary Commission is carrying out an independent review to propose the new layout and we are advised that consultations for this will be held later in the year around September.
In the last parliament the proposals to carry this out were scrapped and if they went ahead this would have affected our Meon Valley constituency which would have been wrapped up with adjacent seats and scrapped. With us becoming ‘Horndean and Fareham’ constituency.
We will have to wait to see what the new proposals are and the commission says there are no guarantees the proposals will be the same but on a local level our rural interests are not always the same as Havants urban needs.
Locally it might be a good opportunity to consider some of the odd boundaries we have – for example should all of LEOH be in the Parish of Horndean? It is not at all clear if the review will extend to this level of governance (it probably will not) but the recent planning means that some of the wards will become very large – in cases twice the size of adjacent areas.
The second major topic is Combined Authorities and the dash for a ‘Southern Powerhouse’ has finally fallen flat on its face. The vision of local control with “no new level of governance” and new powers being given to well placed local authorities to manage them has been dashed with the need for an elected mayor, large back of house officer structure, alarmingly the ability to raise more local taxes through the council tax and a drive to build more houses than our local plan (our objectively assessed need) to kick start the economy. No, no no and no thank you.
For us as local Councillors these are not an option and as a result East Hants is not a signatory to the Hampshire Devolution bid which seems doomed to fail as other local authorities have also felt unable to commit their support.
One thing is clear – there will be a change in the structure of local governance and this may be imposed on us so the next 6 months are about looking to propose a structure that makes sense and importantly ensures out local communities get the best local representation they can, and the best deal out of devolution wherever it comes from.
For East Hants this will become interesting. We are the ONLY local planning authority we know of that has reduced its precept (let alone our plans to reduce our share of Council tax to Zero without cutting services) and we are focused on achieving this by 2024. Making sure that any changes in local government structure result in better terms for our communities without additional layers of governance are important and are something we will continue to make sure are present in any bid we support.
Keep watching here – the next steps in local governance, national structure and our link with the EU are going to be interesting and will affect us all, whatever the outcome.
As you have mention it Guy, how are you voting come June, In or Out and what’s your reasoning ?
For business and commerce reasons Steve I believe our economy is much stronger being in. I am going to the event organised by George to hear both sides as the immigration controls and NHS Tourism is something I am not happy with as well as our courts having a final say. Right now I’d like to know more about the deal Cameron got and how it might improve our position. I’m pretty sure I will be voting IN. How about you Steve?
Thanks for replying Guy; based on what I know today I will be voting Out.
I don’t believe what I am hearing very recently and what Cameron came back with will be of any benefit to the majority of British UK born and bred citizens .
At the moment I fear for this country, I fear for my grandchildren.
Being part of the EU does not make us stronger.
We will still trade with all the countries we currently trade with, as someone learned on the subject once said BMW Mercedes VW Peugeot etc are not going to stop trading with us.
Are our holidays really going to be dearer? Do we really care?
We give some £54m per day to the EU pot yes we get some back but let’s keep it all and support our NHS/ more schools/ more police stations/ pensions/disable people.
Are the Russians going to come?
More fear from Isis and and the “loads”coming our way, I think.
This is just a very very small example of why I will vote Out. Forgot to mention our Courts getting over ruled, human rights and so on and so on. When you really start thinking about it, it makes you think why do we have all these MPEs with their salaries and pensions. We are to work over 35 years to get a Full State Pension but then get it put back some 7 years if you happened to be female and born after April 1956, how long does an MPE have to work to a get a pension for life, no wonder the likes of the Kinnock family want us to stay In. So Guy based on what I know today in June I will be voting Out.
I have read this with interest. I may be a bit thick but can you tell me what LEOH stands for.
Thank you and regards
Jane Stevens On 1 Mar 2016 2:31 pm, “horndeanmatters” wrote:
> Cllr Guy Shepherd posted: “Devolution and Revolution. There are big > structural changes in government coming up – at all levels, Local and > National. With the EU referendum in June it will be interesting to see what > our National and International political structure looks like in 2 ” >
Hi Jane Stevens it stands for Land East of Horndean, it refers to the concreting over of two farms on either side of the Havant road, Hazleton and Pyle Farms some 700 homes and industrial units and a school and recreation areas and some extra 2000 or more vehicles and will take some 10 years to complete but first they have to prove that it will not contaminate the water supply to some 300,000 users.
They were also going to build a huge diesel driven power plant but thankfully that was withdrawn,, for the moment . Hope this helps.
Hi Jane, it’s Land East Of Horndean which is the new development by junction 2 of the A3M. Best wishes, Guy.
Who will be involved with the consultations organised by the Boundary Commission Guy?
Hi Jan, I believe the Boundary Commission come up with their independent recommendation which then goes to public consultation. I will post it here. When it happens. Guy.