No doubt you will have heard in the newspapers or on the radio about the proposals to replace the current system of local government in Shropshire ("Shropshire" here meaning the county without Telford & Wrekin) with a unitary authority. At the moment we have Shropshire County Council and five District Councils too. Here in Shrewsbury our District Council is Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council. The proposed changes would create a single council for Shropshire - a unitary authority (the same sort of council that runs Telford & Wrekin at the moment).

The One Council proposals are supported by Shropshire County Council, Oswestry Borough Council and South Shropshire District Council. The status quo is supported by Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council, Bridgnorth District Council. North Shropshire District Council haven't got a clue... as usual... :rolleyes:

The matter will be discussed on Radio Shropshire on Monday morning (probably at 9am with Jim "Bloody" Hawkins).

I have just been looking at the information supplied with my ballot paper from the Borough Council about the proposed unitary council for Shropshire.

Unsurprisingly, because the poll is being run just by the Borough Council the information provided is skewed against the unitary proposal. For example the case in favour of the unitary is just given as a series of extracts, selected presumably by the Borough, from County Council publications. The Borough’s case against is put together as a single detailed argument.

But when you look at this detail from the Borough one quickly finds contradictions.
Vote against the unitary to support a Council who will retain Rowley’s House in public ownership they say. It was the Borough who tried to flog Rowley’s House off just a few weeks ago to developers, and were only stopped by outraged resident’s protests!

Perhaps the most glaring error is the Borough’s claim that figures from the 1990s Local Government Commission review by Cambridge Professor Michael Chisholm show the costs of slimming down to one council would be today £24 million. He left that Commission in 1995 thus any costs examined would have related to the early 1990s-before the internet and email.
Even the most junior office boy would know the huge advances in information technology have slashed administration costs since the 1990s. To try and use a 1990s figure in considering a 2007 reorganisation shows either a very poor grasp of management, or a deliberate attempt to quote the highest figure they can find, no matter how irrelevant it may actually be.

As it is the Conservatives who run the Borough Council, it is they who are primarily responsible for this atrocious level of debate. However, it is the local opposition parties who consistently let the Tories get away with putting out this rubbish. Come on Labour, Lib Dem and Green members and supporters, pull your fingers out! Do you want this third rate level of debate to be the only show in Shrewsbury & Atcham for ever?

:) :ph43r:

When did you get your ballot papers? We haven't got ours yet.

BBC Shropshire (attempting, but failing) to explain what's happening:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/ar...y_feature.shtml

Having just read through the document myself, I was going to say the same thing!

Is this 'referendum' in any way binding, or it is just an information-gathering exercise by SABC? Seeing as it's a postal vote, and I could quite possibly have intercepted and used all six of the ballot papers of my flatmates if I wanted to, I'm wondering...

On a separate note, I notice that you've only just joined today bakerboy, so welcome to the forums. Do you have a particular interest in promoting the unitary proposals?

The postal referendum is in no way binding. The decision will be made by Her Majesty's Government at Whitehall sometime this year.

btw I received my ballot papers this morning.

Radio Shropshire this morning did an hour about the proposals. Fairly balanced, though I still think many people will be confused. One elderly lady from Meole Brace rang in saying "I currently ring my local councillor but with these plans who will I ring then?" - well your local councillor dear.

I've been trying to follow the debate for a while and it is clear as mud. The County Council says it will save money, Shrewsbury & Atcham say it won't. The only clear thing is that this consultation ballot is costing us £60,000.

There have been some lively comments on the ballot on the council's web site (www.shrewsbury.gov.uk). Click on "Poll on the structure of local government in Shropshire" under the Chief Executive's blog on the home page and scroll down.

Thankyou for your welcome. My interest in the unitry debate is as a shrewsbury resident who pays council tax. :ph43r:

Call This Democracy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:(
It aint democracy as far as I'm concernerned. This is De Mock Crazy.
Who gave the local authorities permission to take my Council Tax and waste it in this crass sham!

[B][U]I demand a council tax rebate Funded by the purpretators of this heinous crime!

How dare they take the publics money in this way.

I feel that they have duped Jo Public once again.

They take our money in a pretense of giving us a choice...................

Nasty Stuff! IMHO.

Well folks,

[SIZE=7]I can't say that the formatting worked out entirely satisfactorily in my last post!
:D

:unsure:

Hope this poll is not fixed !!