Clause 77
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill
10:15 am
Bob Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst, Conservative)
That is correct. When we look at the results of councils’ performance to date, it is interesting that the idea of the city manager, which the Government accept was wrong, ended up putting Stoke at the bottom of the pile. There is always the danger that an idea that is lobbed up without much evidence to support it will not work in practice. I think that is exactly the same point. When the Commission on London Governance conducted its investigation, we wanted to see where the evidence was. We wanted to see that there was a real demand and that there would be some real added value in the London context.
It is because I am a devolutionist that I specifically want to emphasise the London context. A system of permitting parishes may be appropriate in other urban areas such as Milton Keynes or even Leigh-on-Sea, with which the Minister and I are not unacquainted, but that does not mean that it is appropriate or will give added value in London. That is the key test. The whole point of London having a devolved government structure was to accept that because of its diversity, complexity and size, it does not and need not fit in all respects the same local government template as the rest of the country. I do not understand why the Government are proposing something for which there is no significant demand.
The commission looked at the matter and we took evidence from a lot of people, including from authorities outside London that do have parishes. At the end of the day, a number of members of the commission thought that there might be merit in the idea and did not want to rule it out—I say that in fairness—but the majority of the commission, including, unanimously, the members both of my party and the Government’s, were of the view that there was no value in having the power to create parish councils in London.
I hope that the Ministers will reflect on the views of people such as Hugh Maylan who chaired the commission. Hugh Maylan was a very successful Labour leader in Croydon. Croydon gets very high marks for its community engagement from both Conservative and Labour administrations. People such as Hugh Maylan, Robin Wales and others gave evidence to us showing that there was not the demand for that form of community engagement. There are other ways in which community involvement works in London that we think are more effective.