Devolution 'call in' thrown out

A CABINET decision to let Rother District Council officers enter talks with town and parish councils over ways in which they could take on devolved or delegated services was later 'called in' for further consideration.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Mar 2011, 13:00 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 21:28 BST

Faced with a £1.7 million cut in government funding and the Localism Bill promoting a Big Society approach, Cabinet resolved on February 21 to authorise consultation and reports back on greater sharing.

But three Liberal Democrat members of Rother’s services overview and scrutiny committee - Councillors Kathryn Field, Frances Winterborn and Stuart Wood - subsequently stepped in to challenge the decision.

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It meant scrutiny being faced with three options for dealing with the issue, which could eventually see lesser authorities becoming responsible for services presently handled by Rother.

The choices were: to submit written concerns to an additional meeting of Cabinet for reconsideration of its February 21 resolution; to refer the matter to full council, or to take no further action.

Cllrs Field, Winterborn and Wood wanted an agreed framework for devolution, creation of a devolution committee from councillors with parish and town councils in their wards, a charter with a code of practice for devolvement of services and land, a register of RDC assets in parishes to track any transfers and a detailed risk management assessment for any devolution programme reported to Cabinet.

But at a special meeting of the scrutiny committee prior to a full council meeting on Monday, councillors voted to take no further action, so that the Cabinet’s original decision to open talks with parishes still stands.

Related topics:Councillors