Pearson's Magnificent Seven - I don't think so!

 

The announcement by Minister Pearson that the number of local councils in NI could well be reduced to 7 only was a real shocker to local politicians. It was always inevitable that when an Assembly is eventually formed here there will not be a case for maintaining 26 local councils. Various permutations for amalgamation have been mooted to reduce to a number in the mid-teens but never have local councillors envisaged the swingeing cuts that Mr Pearson is presently suggesting.

 

Local government by councils has the trust of local people as seen by the high turn-out at elections held every four years. There is an impressive level of responsible decision-making as manifested in the present low rating levels in Northern Ireland whilst providing high grade local leisure facilities, waste management infrastructures, building control, public health and job creation. Few people don’t knows how to contact a local councillor and get a hearing.

 

This will all change if there is only one council per county. Important Magherafelt villages like Innishrush, Tobermore, or Upperlands among many others, will not be able to keep their present close relationship with their local administration. Instead they will have to rely on a small number of councillors who will often be travelling to meetings at remote offices. These councillors will no longer be able to work alongside their electors and represent them on a part-time basis. They will be required to spend all their time serving on a much larger county-sized council and whilst they will eventually replace many of the scourge of un-elected quangos it is difficult to see how the present efficiency of  the local council system can  be maintained. It will become more difficult for an already employed person like a teacher or a manual worker to risk venturing into local politics because to do so would mean totally relinquishing a promising career.

 

I would call on Mr Pearson not to settle on a figure of seven councils for all of Northern Ireland but to look at a more workable number in the teens. He should also look at the necessity of reducing the number of cash hungry MLA’s at Stormont by at least one third. They have proved to be incapable of  doing anything more memorable than awarding themselves outlandish salary packages.