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How much more irresponsible is it to force amalgamations without any idea what they will cost - or, come to that, what the benefits will be.
Or, if the Government does actually have cost and benefit estimates, how irresponsible is it not to show them to those affected. The Government's proposals to the Local Government Advisory Board are almost laughably brief, with only two paragraphs of generalisations and unsupported claims on the effects on local governments.
The Government is asking us to buy the proverbial pig in a poke. The taxpayer or ratepayer will have to pick up the tab for amalgamations with no knowledge of what the benefits will be - or even if there will be any net benefits.
I'm not going to 'bandy figures around' - although the Cockburn figures do come from a reputable source - but I can vouch, from personal experience, for the difficulty and disruption of local government reorganisations. In 1964/5, between leaving school and going to university, I had a job with the London Borough of Ealing - this was at the time the Greater London Council was being created. Ealing was a merger between one existing local government and parts of two others (this will sound familiar to the people of Cockburn) and I can tell you that, however serenely swan-like it might have appeared on the surface, beneath the water was, like the swan, chaos.
Ian,
ReplyDeleteYou know my feelings. The way that the Government has changed it track is under-handed to say the least. No due diligence has been carried out, no cost analysis has been done and the minister are making plans on the run. Before the Barnett Government attempts Local Gov’t Reform and before the next financial blow out,it needs to reform itself.
The new words for ‘I have not done my home work’ or ‘I don’t know the answer’ are; ‘it would be irresponsible to bandy figures around.’