CANDIDATES standing in the Staffordshire County Council elections say unitary authority plans are a “betrayal” of Lichfield and Burntwood.
A group of local Reform UK representatives have used a joint statement to criticise Government proposals which could see two-tier authority areas axed.
It would mean Lichfield District Council and Staffordshire County Council replaced by a new unitary body.
Two potential plans have been drawn up – one for a Staffordshire-wide body and another which would see Lichfield and Burntwood enter into a mid and south Staffordshire authority.
Reform UK candidates Andrew Clissett, Robin Hall, Janet Higgins, John Madden, Martyn Baylay, Matthew Wallens and Sarah Beech said they would “oppose and frustrate devolution plans at every opportunity” if elected.
They said:
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms Labour’s plans to split Staffordshire in two, placing the ancient and proud city of Lichfield, Burntwood and its surrounding villages and rural communities into a mammoth unitary authority that will be dominated by the chaotically Labour-dominated city of Birmingham.
“These so-called local government devolution plans are anything but local or devolved. They take local control away from the electors of rurally based Lichfield and hand it over to remote metropolitan interests which the rural communities will end up paying for.”
Lichfield District Council has backed the option for a mid and southern Staffordshire unitary authority, despite leader Doug Pullen accusing Local Government Minister Jim McMahon of using “coercion” to force support for reorganisation.
Cllr Pullen said:
“Let’s be really honest about this, the Minister has made it crystal clear that if councils don’t submit plans for reorganisation, he’ll impose them.
“That’s not consensus, it’s coercion from central government.”
But the Reform UK candidates said any support for the unitary authority proposals showed why change was needed.
“We condemn Tory-led Lichfield District Council for supporting these plans, which means they are wilfully abandoning the interests of those who elected them.
“This is nothing more than yet another example of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats uniparty coalition destroying all that the people of Lichfield hold dear.
“If elected, we pledge to the voters of Lichfield that we will oppose and frustrate these plans at every opportunity.
“We are the voice of the silenced and forgotten majority.”
Cllr Pullen said Reform’s approach of ignoring the issue of local government changes would not work.
He said:
“A simple Google search would have shown Reform that the local Conservatives are deeply and vocally opposed to these proposed changes, that a merger with Birmingham City Council is not, and will never be, an option, and that we are demonstrating serious leadership by trying to make the best of this horrific diktat by Labour ministers and are engaging in the process by suggesting the least-worst options.
“Ignoring it is not a solution – and this proposed approach by Reform not only demonstrates their unsuitability for public office, but would only give further power to Whitehall, with Staffordshire residents losing their voice entirely.”
A full list of local candidates standing in the Staffordshire County Council elections on 1st May click here.
