Improved Two Tier Working (Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats)

Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats <info@oxfordshirelibdems.org.uk>

Improved Two Tier Working

April 17, 2007 2:30 PM
By Cllr Zoe Patrick in Cabinet

I am sure that many of us breathed a sigh of relief when Oxford City Council's bid was turned down - mainly because of the potential disruption this would have created within the county. However, the principle of unitary councils has to be commended and indeed, if we look at the full list of councils which were successful then most of those were county councils. There is a consensus of opinion that to make it work there has to be a critical mass of a certain number, and in particular the benefits of any cost savings. However, that is now not going to happen for us in Oxfordshire and I am sure that our excellent booklet on this topic helped our case.

My concern is how we are going to tackle the approach of better and improved two-tier working particularly in our 'three tier' system. How will parishes and towns be served under the 'enhanced' arrangements? I know the Leader is averse to area committees - however, there are examples where these do work well with devolved budgets, not least in the city, but in other areas too, but if these are not to be used, then what will be the mechanism to engage with communities? One stop shops can be a way of meeting the demand for interacting with the public on a wide range of issues, and places like the Vale District already do some of this work, but so far I understand it, the County hasn't been so involved with this. We hope that centralizing services will not lead us to go the route of SOxon District council where they have a call centre in Coventry - and no disrespect to Coventry as it is my home town, but people need to speak to people who know the local area well to have credibility in the system. If the service is depersonalised then people cannot trust in what it delivers.

So without further ado, I hope that the Leader will give me some confidence that the 3 year programme will indeed produce some consideration.