Conservatives To Abolish Area Panels: Are They Afraid Of The Public?

9.07.00pm GMT Tue 25th Mar 2008

Uttlesford's ruling Conservative councillors are centralising power by abolishing area panels.

Leading Conservative Councillors have announced plans to abolish Uttlesford District Council's powerful area panels and replace them with toothless talking shops modelled on the useless area forums run by Essex County Council.

Uttlesford Conservatives propose that there will be two area forums in the district - one for the north and one for the south. They would meet three times a year and have no decision-making powers at all.

Currently, Uttlesford District Council has three area panels: the North Area Panel (which serves Saffron Walden and the surrounding villages), the South West Panel (which serves Stansted and the surrounding villages) and the South East panel (which serves Dunmow, Thaxted and the surrounding villages). They are made up of all the District Councillors who represent the area that they serve. The area panels currently make decisions on grant allocations, road safety issues, and the local implementation of Council policies. They scrutinise how the Council's policies are affecting their part of the district.

The Conservatives have opposed area panels ever since their introduction in 2006, when the Liberal Democrats led Uttlesford District Council.

It seems likely that the area panel meetings in Elsenham (last October) and in Stansted (this January) were the last straw for the Conservatives, who took exception when local residents objected strongly to their plans for a new town in Elsenham. Meetings of the area panels have been poorly advertised ever since.

Cllr Peter Wilcock, Uttlesford Liberal Democrat Group Leader said "It looks like the Tories have fallen for the desire of some of the council's officers to remove local decision-making from locally-elected District Councillors. The result will be that the council's committees will become overloaded with work, forcing them to hand over more decision-making to the council's unelected employees. It's straight out of Yes, Minister."

Stansted Lib Dem Councillor Geoffrey Sell - who is also Chairman of Stansted Parish Council - said, "The Audit Commission are keen for local councils to increase consultation with the people that they represent. They are likely to take a dim view of the Tory plan to centralise power in Saffron Walden. If you are a listening council how can you afford to do away with area panels? What area panels do is give residents an opportunity to question district councillors and also influence the council agenda. A good example of how area panels used to work was when areas of Stansted had problems with anti-social behaviour. Quite a lot of Stansted residents attended the local area panel meeting at Clavering Village Hall and were able to express their concerns to the local police Inspector and the Chairman of the Police Authority."

Stort Valley Lib Dem Councillor Janice Loughlin added, "Area panels are a vital part of the local democratic process and it is the Conservatives' fear of that process that is behind their decision to abolish them. The intention behind Area Panels was, where possible, to delegate decision-making to the lowest possible level. "

Stebbing Lib Dem Councillor Christina Cant concluded, "We were able to discuss issues like the LDF process, Woodlands Park speeding problems and Oakwood Park facilities at area panels. Area panels have focused minds and produced results and actions more quickly than would otherwise have been the case."