Written evidence to be reported to the House
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill
4:30 pm
Gordon Keymer: You are right in that I have not, no. It is not just a matter of saving money. We are here to provide services. I know that we are supposed to be place shaping. I like place shaping as much as anybody else, but in the end we are here to provide services. That is what we are elected for. Services do not get improved by reorganisation. One of my big worries about the whole process is connected with the fact that, as districts, we are in the forefront of service provision, of which refuse collection and planning are examples. A unitary authority—particularly a large one—causes that front line to be lost, and my fear is that one is then left with the lowest common denominator for services in that area.
My electorate believe that weekly refuse collection is important. In Tandridge we still run refuse collection from the back door, and people value that too—we have just started a new 14-year contract. However, I can envisage a nightmare scenario in which, had we become unitary, all that would have gone.
The Government proposed not a referendum but a conversation with the movers and shakers. So I went off to find the movers and shakers, of whom I assumed the vicar was one, in Government terminology, and I mentioned the problem. He was horrified. I thought, “Fine”, and we got on in our own way, as politicians do. But he kept on coming up to me and saying, “It isn’t going to go ahead is it?”. Then, on 20 January I was able to tell him that no bids would be made in Surrey, and he was greatly relieved. So there is a real connection between district councillors and their electorate which I think is very important—probably the most important aspect of all our work.