Written evidence to be reported to the House
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill
9:35 am
Peter Facey: You would certainly need safeguards. If you are going to move to an elected council or give more power to an elected council, to then dilute it by having a large number of people who are appointed seems contrary to the whole philosophy. There perhaps need to be questions about the number that you can appoint and whether they have voting rights or simply speaking rights. We need to preserve the democratic ethos of a parish or community council and, at the same time, recognise that they do not always have the expertise and that there may be arguments for bringing in expertise. I think the basic premise should be that the democratic system should be where the representation comes through and that, yes, you can bring in expertise, but there need to be safeguards around that.