andrewp
Non-Aligned
Posts: 8,929
Member is Online
|
Post by andrewp on Feb 22, 2020 19:47:59 GMT
Oh dear. It looks like the legacy of our "Avon" nightmare around here has left people with a bit of a ' Mauer im Kopf' regarding this discussion! My ideal solution, if money were no object, would involve a County Council for all of Somerset, with 8 districts below it. If that's not possible, then a pragmatic solution of 3 unitaries would be the way to go: BANES + Mendip for one; N Somerset + Sedgemoor for another; and S Somerset + Somerset W & Taunton for the other. I believe the latter approach is favoured by the current MP for Wells. What are your 8 districts? The 4 current Somerset ones, and then old Woodspring, Wansdyke and Bath? In those 3 unitaries, the Northern two are quite logical, the Southern one is pretty bad- stretching from Porlock to Wincanton, in a narrowish authority. I think Somerset West and Taunton probably links better with Sedgemoor personally.
|
|
Foggy
Non-Aligned
Long may it rain
Posts: 5,530
|
Post by Foggy on Feb 22, 2020 20:40:36 GMT
Oh dear. It looks like the legacy of our "Avon" nightmare around here has left people with a bit of a ' Mauer im Kopf' regarding this discussion! My ideal solution, if money were no object, would involve a County Council for all of Somerset, with 8 districts below it. If that's not possible, then a pragmatic solution of 3 unitaries would be the way to go: BANES + Mendip for one; N Somerset + Sedgemoor for another; and S Somerset + Somerset W & Taunton for the other. I believe the latter approach is favoured by the current MP for Wells. What are your 8 districts? The 4 current Somerset ones, and then old Woodspring, Wansdyke and Bath? In those 3 unitaries, the Northern two are quite logical, the Southern one is pretty bad- stretching from Porlock to Wincanton, in a narrowish authority. I think Somerset West and Taunton probably links better with Sedgemoor personally. That would only make 7! In my fantasy scenario where West Somerset hadn't been deemed financially unviable, I'd re-separate it from Taunton Deane. Yes, there are good transport links between the county town and Sedgemoor's main population centres, whilst Bridgwater and Minehead have been combined in a parliamentary constituency for the longest time. But something inelegant will inevitably result from any more 'practical' arrangement.
|
|
Khunanup
Lib Dem
Portsmouth Liberal Democrats
Posts: 11,543
Member is Online
|
Post by Khunanup on Feb 25, 2020 11:59:58 GMT
What would a "2 big unitaries" Somerset look like? I assume merger of the newly merged Taunton & West Somerset with Sedgemoor to create an enlarged West Somerset , and another merger between South Somerset and Mendip to form East Somerset? Or a merger of Sedgemoor and Mendip to form Midsomer? I feel a murder coming on! If the figures on Wiki are correct, shire Somerset has a population of about 550,000. That's the same as unitary Sheffield, same as unitary County Durham, bigger than unitary East Riding at 340,000. But four unitary authorities would be 120,000 or so each, would that be viable? My initial instinct is a unitary county would fit best - and that would also allow you to say that Somerset was "really" three unitaries, two urban bits and the rural bit. And even - pitchforks at the ready - put the non-Bath bits back in a single Somerset authority. Large rural Unitaries are not just undesirable in theory, but consistently among the worst authorities in practice where they currently exist. They are remote, extremely unwieldy and unresponsive and enable a dominant party in control to ignore sometimes relatively large areas of the authority area that has another party in great dominance. I'm a fan of all Unitaries however as I think two tier is a dreadful system of governance so in Somerset's case I would go for either an East/West split of existing county Somerset or have North Somerset expand a bit to the South and divide the rest, still East/West and/or lop the bottom off BANES and put that in an East Unitary with the rest of the county council area of West.
|
|
J.G.Harston
Lib Dem
Leave-voting Brexit-supporting Liberal Democrat
Posts: 13,672
|
Post by J.G.Harston on Feb 25, 2020 20:50:25 GMT
If the figures on Wiki are correct, shire Somerset has a population of about 550,000. That's the same as unitary Sheffield, same as unitary County Durham, bigger than unitary East Riding at 340,000. But four unitary authorities would be 120,000 or so each, would that be viable? My initial instinct is a unitary county would fit best - and that would also allow you to say that Somerset was "really" three unitaries, two urban bits and the rural bit. And even - pitchforks at the ready - put the non-Bath bits back in a single Somerset authority. Large rural Unitaries are not just undesirable in theory, but consistently among the worst authorities in practice where they currently exist. They are remote, extremely unwieldy and unresponsive and enable a dominant party in control to ignore sometimes relatively large areas of the authority area that has another party in great dominance. I'm a fan of all Unitaries however as I think two tier is a dreadful system of governance so in Somerset's case I would go for either an East/West split of existing county Somerset or have North Somerset expand a bit to the South and divide the rest, still East/West and/or lop the bottom off BANES and put that in an East Unitary with the rest of the county council area of West. But would Somerset-without-Bath be a large unitary?
I'm a fan of unitaries for urban areas, but feel that large rural areas better fit a two-tier system. So, eg, unitary York, two-tier North Yorkshire. I'm not neccessarily wedded to the existing districts though. The issue is where the line between "large" and not-"large" rural areas is. East Riding /seems/ to be ok as a unitary, but it really makes no sense going south of the Ouse/Humber.
|
|
|
Post by andrewteale on Mar 3, 2020 19:58:31 GMT
|
|
|
Post by andrewteale on Mar 6, 2020 22:02:27 GMT
A new electoral changes order has been published: The Pendle (Electoral Changes) Order 2020 (S.I. 2020/215). Introduces new ward boundaries for Pendle council to come into effect at the 2020 election, restores the system of election by thirds in following years, and makes associated changes to electoral arrangements for the parishes of Barnoldswick, Colne and Nelson. There are twelve new wards, of which one is single-member (Fence and Higham), one elects two councillors (Brierfield West and Reedley) and ten elect three councillors.
|
|
Harry Hayfield
Green
Cavalier Gentleman (as in 17th century Cavalier)
Posts: 2,810
|
Post by Harry Hayfield on Mar 11, 2020 13:21:36 GMT
Chancellor announces a new West Yorkshire Metro Mayor
|
|
|
Post by bluelabour on Mar 11, 2020 15:30:16 GMT
Chancellor announces a new West Yorkshire Metro Mayor Job for Mary Creagh? 🤣
|
|
The Bishop
Labour
Down With Factionalism!
Posts: 36,669
Member is Online
|
Post by The Bishop on Mar 11, 2020 15:37:36 GMT
If only to (also) please AC, Paula Sherriff
|
|
edgbaston
Labour
Posts: 3,712
Member is Online
|
Post by edgbaston on Mar 11, 2020 15:46:55 GMT
Designed for the Tories to promote their sleeper agent Burgon further? Now that he will likely be out of the shadcab
|
|
edgbaston
Labour
Posts: 3,712
Member is Online
|
Post by edgbaston on Mar 11, 2020 15:47:30 GMT
If only to (also) please AC, Paula Sherriff An outstanding candidate for the job.
|
|
Harry Hayfield
Green
Cavalier Gentleman (as in 17th century Cavalier)
Posts: 2,810
|
Post by Harry Hayfield on Mar 11, 2020 16:31:16 GMT
Chancellor announces a new West Yorkshire Metro Mayor Job for Mary Creagh? 🤣 Someone on Twitter has suggested the former Labour MP for Morley and Outwood
|
|
|
Post by greenhert on Mar 11, 2020 16:34:41 GMT
Chancellor announces a new West Yorkshire Metro Mayor What for? We do not need any more Metro Mayors!
|
|
|
Post by finsobruce on Mar 11, 2020 16:54:26 GMT
Designed for the Tories to promote their sleeper agent Burgon further? Now that he will likely be out of the shadcab Don't even joke about such things. But , seriously, if he wanted a go at it he'd be a contender for the nomination and the process could feature a number of heavyweight candidates.
|
|
|
Post by finsobruce on Mar 11, 2020 16:59:58 GMT
Chancellor announces a new West Yorkshire Metro Mayor What for? We do not need any more Metro Mayors! We don't need any more tv dating programmes, but we're going to get them regardless.
|
|
European Lefty
Labour
Can be bribed with salted liquorice
Posts: 5,618
Member is Online
|
Post by European Lefty on Mar 11, 2020 17:36:39 GMT
At this rate they should just re-introduce met counties or introduce regional government.
|
|
Foggy
Non-Aligned
Long may it rain
Posts: 5,530
|
Post by Foggy on Mar 11, 2020 23:21:03 GMT
At this rate they should just re-introduce met counties or introduce regional government. The latter, preferably... but at least Met County Councils were based on proper two-tier authorities and collective decision-making, rather than a single figure occasionally consulting with (but not really accountable to) a Tebbit-style micro-council consisting of the Leaders of the smaller council areas. What has the world come to when government policy has me almost defending non-traditional county set-ups because Number 11's preferred model manages to be something even worse?
|
|
Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,726
|
Post by Adrian on Mar 12, 2020 14:31:09 GMT
If Somerset (excluding Bath and Weston) is going to go unitary, then a single authority (headquartered in Taunton) makes sense. If you had an east-west split, the eastern HQ would presumably be Yeovil, which is on the edge of the area and only 25 miles from Taunton.
|
|
|
Post by hullenedge on Mar 12, 2020 21:02:49 GMT
If only to (also) please AC, Paula Sherriff An outstanding candidate for the job. Well, Paula is 'off the blocks':-
|
|
|
Post by finsobruce on Mar 12, 2020 21:04:26 GMT
An outstanding candidate for the job. Well, Paula is 'off the blocks':- She's missing a trick though - her slogan should be "Support your local Sherriff".
|
|