District Councils across Somerset have united to present an alternative to the ONE SOMERSET County Position on Unitary authorities. The STRONGER SOMERSET Model has been passed by all 4 District Councils at 4 separate meetings with 156 councillors from across the political spectrum endorsing the District case and just 23 opposing it.
The debate has split the Tory vote into County and District showing a clear anger at grassroots Tory level about the overlarge and less representative nature of the County proposal which would see massive divisions with less connection to the communities they represent. The 2 unitary option presented by Stronger Somerset, alternatively, provides a solution closer to the people and more reflective of the political composition of the different towns and parishes across the county.
Labour Leader Cllr Brian Smedley said “The issue at stake is in fact democracy and the future of ANY alternative to the Tory domination of Somerset. 2 smaller unitaries is better than 1 large one and clearly the maths reflects the votes of the people better the smaller you go for representation. This is why the Labour position is to support Stronger Somerset and to oppose the nightmare scenario of One Somerset”
I agree the Stronger Somerset proposal is the one to go for. Centralisation decreases democracy, just what the tories and elite want. They own most of the land and want most of the say and are trying to achieve this by developing a whole host of matresise that we must fall in to and provide them with the information to control our lives. We must develop a system that gives individuals and local communities a major say, while at the same time communicating with larger organisations so as to spread best practice for the benefit of all.