THE devolution deal on offer to Warrington is “far too important” to be decided by a secret meeting of the controlling Labour group on the borough council says opposition leader Cllr Bob Barr.
The Labour group recently voted within their own group against the proposed deal for Warrington linking up with Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester, even though all three councils share an ambition to “drive forward the Northern Powerhouse.”
Bob Barr
But Cllr Barr said: “Decisions whether to accept a devolution deal for Cheshire and Warrington, whether to accept an elected mayor, what powers that mayor should have and what powers and oversight should remain with the existing local authorities are too important to be settled by the Labour Group in private meetings in Warrington’s Town Hall.
“This sounds as though it is more about the ambitions of the Leader and his challengers in the Group rather than the well-being of the people of Warrington.
“The current financial settlement has been bad for Warrington ever since the New Town Corporation got scrapped by the Tories in 1988. We have underfunded schools; infrastructure that is falling apart and we can’t afford to mend; underfunded services for the most vulnerable and a level of inequality in the town which is a scandal. So any suggestion from Helen Jones MP, or the current Council Labour Group, that we can do better by ourselves lacks credibility.
“If Warrington turns down the devolution deal, there will be no incentive for this Tory Government to offer us anything better than the rotten deal we have now. In fact, they will revel in making an example of us by keeping us underfunded.
“Waiting for a Labour government, which doesn’t look likely in the foreseeable future, is pretty vain too. Remember since the current version of the Borough was formed in the 1974 Local Government re-organization we have had Labour administrations in Warrington for 37 out of the last 42 years and Labour in power nationally for 13 years.
“Did Warrington get a decent deal from government after 1988? No, we were always deemed not deprived enough to justify getting extra resources and the money we made and paid in taxes was taken away to spend elsewhere. In the 5 years we had a Liberal Democrat led administration in Warrington, the national Labour government cut our funding for all 5 years.
Terry O’Neill
“To be truly democratic we should have a Cheshire devolution deal spelt out in detail, with the alternatives on the table too and these should be put to a local referendum.”
But Council leader Terry O’Neill said: “Over the last few months we have been developing a Cheshire and Warrington Devolution Deal with the two Cheshire local authorities (and the LEP). The ‘Deal’ would mean significant devolution of powers from Whitehall to a new Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority. The ‘deal’ if realised would mean a significant transfer of powers from Whitehall with clear economic benefits.
“However, in the past month government has insisted that the ‘prize’ of devolution must come with the ‘price’ of an elected Mayor. The government has also been very inflexible with their timetable because of the parliamentary process, insisting that public consultation begin in early July in order to accommodate possible Mayoral elections in May 2017. This timetable is far too rushed and has not given us enough time to consider the risks and opportunities of any deal. We have therefore put the process on ‘pause’ so that the matter can be more carefully considered and we are talking to government about a revised timetable.”
1 Comment
Here we go again! one of the grand masters of ‘cloaked decisions behind closed doors’ kicking up a stink of ‘secret decisions’ being made in the town hall.
He raves; “We have underfunded schools; infrastructure that is falling apart and we can’t afford to mend; underfunded services for the most vulnerable and a level of inequality in the town which is a scandal.”
All of which we had when he was in a position of power at the town hall – and which he did nothing about! In fact he’s repeatedly bragged about how he and his group “dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s on the Town Centre Regeneration contracts – long before Labour got into power at the town hall. (and extremely undemocratically as this was years before any public consultation had been carried out!) What a disgraceful waste of money that project is – and all whilst continual cuts are being made to public services!
What did Cllr Barr care about the level of inequality in the town when he tried to sell off Walton Hall and Gardens – one of the few free venues people have for recreation? If ever there’s been a scandal in the town that was one of them!
He says “This sounds as though it is more about the ambitions of the Leader and his challengers in the Group rather than the well-being of the people of Warrington” I think that statement applies as equally if not more to him and his challengers in the Lib Dem group.
Sadly it seems that all parties are vying for power rather than the well-being of the people of Warrington.
Note the sentiments, “government has insisted that the ‘prize’ of devolution must come with the ‘price’ of an elected Mayor”.
The way I see this is that sadly, the ‘prize’ of an elected Mayor should have to come with the ‘price’ of devolution.
I think a democratically elected Mayor could be good for the people of Warrington, but devolution and thus more power into the hands of those (backed by all parties) who have done so much damage to our town already – now that’s frightening!