The way to empower local communities is by giving more power to town halls says Cllr John lamb

In his speech to Hale Central Conservatives today (Sunday 15th March 2009) Cllr John Lamb said:

"The government is busy publishing paper after paper, Act after Act on the future of local government. The focus is on empowering local communities, the suggestion being that as councillors we don’t listen enough to what you have to say, what your views are and what you would like to see changed. I think it is true that councillors need to think about how they engage effectively with the people they represent."

This was in response to proposals that local people should be able to veto council spending plans via a referendum and that people should be able to directly elect police commissioners.

Cllr Lamb posed the question that surely the reason for being elected as a councillor was to take decisions and be accountable for the running of local government services through the ballot box.
" The way you return power to local communities is by returning powers to the town hall! Exercise of local powers by local politicians is what will get noticed by local people and they will insist on making their views known as local spending and policy decisions hit their pockets and in a democratic system, that is the ultimate in accountability"

The full speech can be seen by following the link below:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13291520/Hale-Central-Speech-15th-March-2009-Future-of-Local-Government