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2010 election results by political colours. |
Before I was elected I knew very little of the structure of
our local government and forgive me if I am wrong, but I believe most people
don’t either.
In West Sussex we have a three tier structure with the
Parish at the lowest level with the District at next level and West Sussex
County Council at the top. In the
Arundel ward there are currently six parishes which are either a Parish meeting
(Burpham, Warningcamp, South Stoke & Houghton), a Parish Council (Lyminster)
or a Town Council (Arundel), Parishes
are Planning consultees and give their opinion to the planning authority (In
Arun District that’s either Arun or the South Downs National Park), Parishes
are responsible for community based buildings, like village halls or the
Arundel Town Hall they also work with Arun and West Sussex County Council on
delivering local based services. The
Parish is financed through your Council tax bill through the parish precept
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Local Election Ballot Box. |
At the next level is Arun District which covers many different
services, they are the billing authority so collect Council tax on behalf of
all the other authorities, e.g. West Sussex County Council (about 78%) Arun District (About 11%) and then the
Police Authority (about 9%) and the balance to the Parish. Arun has many different service
responsibilities which include, Planning, Housing (Arun has about 3500 council
houses known as Social Housing), Affordable Housing, Street Cleansing, Weekly
Refuse, Public Conveniences, Leisure Centres, Theatres, leisure Green spaces
and parks, Civil Parking enforcement, Car Parks, Well Being agenda, Costal
Flooding, Benefits (Council Tax and Housing benefit), Internal Drainage, Drinks
Licensing, Taxi Licensing, Environmental Health, Pest Control, Regeneration, I
could go on, but we also liaise and work closely with the Police and West
Sussex County Council and we deliver all this just under £3. Per week for a
Band D household.
At the top is West Sussex County Council which covers
Schools & Education, Highways, Social care, Public Transport, Libraries,
Children care and Adoption services, Youth Services, Flooding
(River, Surface and ground source), Waste processing, local waste
centres, delivery of government economic initiatives like Rural Broadband and
business grants
Local government is much more efficient than Central
government, but the obvious question is could local government be delivered
more efficiently, Well I think it could, unitary authorities like Cornwall
avoid duplication and can have a more coherent view, but whether unitary
councils should be county wide is another question, some counties have super
borough or city councils like Havant,
Portsmouth or Winchester, I believe there are opportunities to have a super
District unitary that would stretch from Chichester to Shoreham that would cut
the number of Councillors, save money and be more joined up.
Until next
month, Paul Dendle is Arundel Ward & Cabinet Member on Arun District
Council and can be contacted at his email Pauldendle@aol.com
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