Time to change the record, Dave
6:27pm Friday 18th January 2008
I UNDERSTAND that county council leader David Shakespeare was banging on again this week about lack of Government funding for Bucks. Change the record, Dave. We've heard it all before and it's beginning to grate.
Having said that, I have little doubt he is right. Bucks is a Tory area and despite Government proclamations, does appear to get a pretty raw deal.
As a result, taxpayers here get a battering from year-on-year council tax rises and year-on-year service cuts.
From what I know of Shakey, he's a pretty prudent leader so something is obviously wrong.
Maybe it's the huge public service pension fund that taxpayers have to stump up for. Maybe it's the local government pay structure which dictates chief officers get paid a king's ransom for coming in to work in our town halls. Or maybe it's the raft of new petty legislation that means councils have to make more checks and interfere more often in our lives.
I don't pretend to be expert enough to tell you which is the correct reason.
But what I do know is that this has been the situation for so many years it's high time our councillors accepted it and moved on.
There are other courses of action they could take, apart from hoping the other Tory Dave sweeps to power.
Cllr Shakespeare could go to Downing Street and chain himself to the railings in a public protest which shames the Government. And why not, if they really are so rotten to us?
Or, he could pilot a complete reform of the outdated three-tier local Government system in Bucks. Chopping it down to a single council would surely give enough savings to cut our council tax and compensate for Central Government's alleged stinginess.