I WAS appalled to see in last week's Times a full page
advertisement by Devon County Council, putting forward
their vision of a unitary authority for the whole of Devon
(excluding Plymouth and Torbay) to be centred upon
Not only is this a flagrant piece of propaganda by Devon
County Council, but it contains misleading information
regarding the choices in front of us and does not give a
balanced view on the real options available. It is
unacceptable for Devon County to be manipulating the
situation for their own self-aggrandisement — this is
supposed to be a non-political exercise.
Nowhere in the advertisement did it point out that this
was in fact a paid advertisement (from the taxpayers'
coffers).
Do the people of West Devon really want to be ruled by an
Exeter centred authority, and do the people of West Devon
(and the other rural areas) realise that if this proposal
goes ahead the democratic accountability (ie the number
of councillors) will be reduced, leading to a 'democratic
deficit' ('Draft proposal for unitary local authority
government in Devon' July 2008, Boundary Committee for
England p28 para 4.31? At present your local councillors
are easy to get hold of, and provide a good level of hands
on access. For example, to take just one aspect of local
government, this means planning control could move to
Exeter.
Far be it from me to go on further. The 'Draft proposal'
runs to 41 pages! I therefore urge all local taxpayers and
voters to get clued up and make your opinions heard.
We only have until September 26 to submit our
responses. Please get reading, and writing.
Cllr Janet Penrose
Plasterdown Grouped Parish Council