Simon Hughes MP calls on leader of Southwark Council to save Community Councils
January 25, 2012 4:00 PM
Simon Hughes, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, has written an open letter to Cllr Peter John, the leader of Southwak Council, calling on him to abandon unpopular council proposals to to cut the number of Community Councils and the frequency of their meetings.
The full text of the letter can be found below:
Dear Peter,
Community Councils
Community Councils perform a vital role in providing local communities an opportunity to influence decisions which directly affect what happens in their area - from changes to traffic management systems to planning application decisions. Southwark Council's website even describes them as a 'focal point for discussion on local matters' and 'a forum for consultation with local people'. I was one of the people who insisted that establishing community councils was a priority of the first Liberal Democrat administration in Southwark in 2002. The success of community councils since then has absolutely vindicated that decision. I am therefore angry and extremely disappointed by Southwark council's plans to cut the number of Community Councils and the frequency of their meetings.
The council's current proposals to merge the eight current Community Councils into five with each meeting only five times a year, while stripping their funding and removing their powers to appoint school governors and influence planning applications, shows a blatant disregard for the principles behind the establishment of Community Councils. The plans both reduce the ability of people to influence council decisions and broaden the areas the committees cover, making them less focussed on local communities. In effect, the plans will mean that residents on Bermondsey Street will attend the same meetings as people on Rotherhithe Street, and residents from the Aylesbury Estate with those from Southwark Street. Surrey Docks and the Old Kent Road are not in the same community; nor are the Borough or Waterloo and west Walworth. You know that perfectly well.
I do not believe this decision simply boils down to the issue of cost. The savings from these decisions would only amount to £344,000, at a time when the Council is hoarding millions away for a rainy day and apparently had enough spare change to propose installing a VIP roof terrace at the council offices. The money is available if you chose to spend it. I am happy to discuss how funding can best be secured.
It is clear that the decision is not about their success and working - which of course can be improved - but about reducing the opportunity of my constituents to influence council policy and to be engaged with politics, as well as to reduce the influence of opposition councillors. Your Labour council is clearly wishing to punish that part of the borough where most people voted Liberal Democrat at the last elections, and to diminish the role of Liberal Democrat councillors. And you are clearly planning to impose a centralist socialist solution rather than deliver localism or strengthen community.
Many people - of different political persuasions and none - are already contacting me and Liberal Democrat councillors to voice their opposition and state that they strongly disagree with the Council's plans.
I therefore ask you and your Cabinet to halt your plans to implement these proposals and return to an agenda of improvement not abolition. Please abandon these unpopular proposals as soon as possible. I should also be grateful for an urgent meeting on this subject as soon as possible with you and your cabinet colleague responsible. A reply before today's Cabinet confirming that you will consider my proposals would be most appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Rt. Hon. Simon Hughes MP
MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark
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