This Is Important – A “Combined Authority” To Rule Over Essex?

September

7

5 comments

The government is offering to devolve powers and decision-making to regional areas, and as a result the different council leaders in Essex – including Essex CC , Southend and Thurrock – have been talking about working together.

The first thing to say is that there has been no discussion at our Full Council about this yet.

The second is that nothing has been officially agreed yet and the plans don’t involve merging councils. Our chief executive Amar Dave has written to us to say:

devo7The third is that the plans involve creating a “Combined Authority” that would consist of the leaders of the 15 authorities, as a sort of super-politburo that could make decisions. According to a joint letter from all the council leaders :

devo0Our county needs more infrastructure, and maybe this is a way of getting the government to fund more infrastructure (even in a time of Conservative austerity)? But forgive us for being suspicious, this “Combined Authority” could very possibly be used to force through unpopular decisions on individual parts of Essex. We also note that some existing? bodies – County Highways, the Essex Fire and Rescue Service and the South Essex Planning Partnership – aren’t beacons of success.

The fourth point is that the letter points to? increased housebuilding, and new infrastructure through private sector investment. That could mean toll roads, or roads funded by new housing:

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Anyway, this is the full letter that the various council leaders have sent to the government:

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About the author, admin

  • When the Government wanted to extend London into Essex in the 1960’s they came up with the term ‘Greater London ‘ to describe the many towns and villages they eventually swallowed up to include Hornchurch, Romford (a former market town), after Barking Essex, Dagenham Essex, Rainham Essex etc etc. This NEW TERM GREATER ESSEX seems the first step to extend that concept further towards the Essex coast. It could quite simply be the forerunner of the end of this historic County of Essex. Is the term Greater Kent, Greater Hartfordshire, Greater Buckinghamshire etc. being mooted or is Essex being uniquely targeted for this ‘GREATER’ scheme to house displaced Londoners?

    • The county of Essex as it is now has only exsisted since 1998 when Thurrock & Southend went their own ways. Yes, i know they are in the ceremonial county of Essex, but even that has only exsisted since 1965 when London swallowed up what had been southwest Essex. The point is, Essex like anywhere else, changes and adapts. It is not an historic county any more than it is still the Kingdom of Essex. In 2015 it is the non-metropolitan county of Essex. What happens in the future will happen, fear won’t change that.

  • Essex Devolution

    So do we want a Super Authority made up of Southend, Thurrock and Essex County Council?

    or

    a Super Authority made up of all the Councils in Essex?

    Councillors are elected to represent fairly small wards with a relatively small number of voters, where only 30% to 40% actually vote, and one of these Councillors will be chosen by the majority party in each Council to vote in either Super Council or “Essex Parliament”.

    Is this what we want?

    The Government will choose one of these options.

  • My view is that there will have to be some very clear and immediately deliverable significant tangible benefits for Rochford District if am to agree especially in the provision of desperately needed general highway improvements to deal with the cumulative issues caused by the provision of 4000 houses and potentially more in the upcoming Revision of The Core Strategy.

  • What a disaster – ECC don’t even do their current job ( too big/dis coordinate ),
    this would be even further from any “local” issues , just like the EU really , another level of management structure out of touch with reality and no accountability.
    Sorry folks but I have lost all faith in this country to do anything properly ,
    just like the Greeks > Romans > Spanish > French , we have had our day as a
    world power and could’nt organise a drink up at a brewery anymore.

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