There has been much criticism of gerrymandering in the USA. This is nothing compared with what has happened to local democracy in England. Before 1974 local decisions were made by a myriad of differing types of authorities: Most of these authorities were governed by representatives of the people they served and responded to local needs and pressures.
In 1974 local government was reorganised. I believe the real reasons for the reorganisation had more to do with central government control than with genuine practical considerations. A royal commission was set up in 1972. It represented all political parties and other stakeholders. The outcome was a well thought through blueprint which was brought into effect on 1st April 1974. This abolished the smaller boroughs, rural and urban districts and combined them into districts while county boundaries remained largely unchanged.
The functions of authorities were redistributed. So, for example, district councils like Ryedale became responsible for planning under the umbrella of a wider county “structure plan”, and new water authorities were set up. In order to retain local influence over water supply and sewerage, half of the governors of the water authorities were appointed from County council nominees and district councils were given agency powers to deal with water authority work at a local level.
This system worked well for many years. For example, district council environmental health officers could get to know where the rats were and could liaise with their water agency colleagues when taking steps to control vermin in sewers. When public authorities accumulated “surpluses” these had to be reinvested in the authority’s business and not paid to shareholders as dividends.
This all changed in the 1980’s. All public utilities were sold off. The new water authorities promptly terminated their local authority agencies, so that their customers lost all control or influence over their services. Many of their regulatory functions were given to central government quangos, such as the Environment Agency. This means that decisions and policies relating to such matters as flooding and river pollution in North Yorkshire are now taken and made politically at their London offices.
In 1985 the metropolitan counties, including the GLC, were abolished. This was primarily intended to silence local opposition from leaders such as Ken Livingstone. It was marketed as a cost saving device, although the same services still had to be provided and there was no appreciable reduction in the rates. The need for the lost metropolitan counties councils for the conurbations soon became apparent and some years later there was a call for “devolution” and new “mayoralties” were set up with the same or similar boundaries to the old met counties, including the mayoralty of London – with Ken Livingstone back again as mayor!
In the nineties country districts and counties were invited to reorganise into larger unitary authorities. This time there was no impartial or cross-party royal commission or carefully thought out national blueprint. The vital decisions were made on an ad hoc basis by politicians. This is how the East Yorkshire Council came to replace three former district councils created in 1974, while Ryedale lost half its population to the new York unitary but survived.
And two years ago there was the reorganisation of North Yorkshire. This was a takeover by North Yorkshire County of the six districts within it. These districts included the former boroughs of Scarborough and Harrogate which had run their own affairs for centuries. North Yorkshire requested the reorganisation. The six districts opposed it and made an alternative proposal. Thousands of pounds were spent on preparing cases for both alternatives. These were submitted to the minister, Mr. Jenrick. Instead of a carefully worded and considered decision letter with detailed analysis of both proposals, Mr. Jenrick’s decision notice comprised four short paragraphs on North Yorkshire. The decision was clearly politically motivated.
One excellent reform made by Mrs. Thatcher was to require all councils to have committees which were politically balanced so that all political groups were represented. Tony Blair changed this. His reforms authorised councils to set up single party “executives”. North Yorkshire has one. It comprises ten Conservative councillors who make all the decisions and all the policies for a county which extends from near Lancaster to the North Sea. All other elected councillors are in effect marginalised. These ten politicians are now busy rationalising policies which have evolved over time to suit each of the six former districts with a view to making one size fit all.
The fact that so few councillors have all the power does not necessarily result in better decision making – as the row over school transport proves.