| Topic: | Re:Re: Manifesto - London Borough of Chiswick | |
| Posted by: | Richard Greenhough | |
| Date/Time: | 03/05/15 10:18:00 |
| Loraine Quite simply, unravelling the present arrangements for governing London cannot be done by Chiswick alone. As I have advocated here before, with the Mayor and GLA in place to provide city-wide government, there is a case to suggest that the present London boroughs are too large and that democratic government would benefit from smaller political units. There would still be a need for cross-borough co-operation in service provision - imagine what would happen if the refuse collection companies could gang up on a small borough and enforce a high price for their services, with a take-it-or-leave it attitude and being prepared to lose that one contract, whereas the prospect of losing a larger contract might make them more willing to negotiate - but there would be the opportunity to bring decisions that directly affect the locality closer to home. I am sure that the likes of John Todd and Sam Hearn would respond much better to local opinion than the likes of Ed Mayne and his chums. Unfortunately the only idea that has been floated by either of the main political parties was Livingstone's suggestion for merging the existing boroughs into a smaller number of super-boroughs. This, of course, follows the usual Labour liking for big government distant from the people it supposedly represents. The only way to affect positive change would be to campaign strongly for it in advance of the next GLA and Mayoral elections and see if any candidates for those posts were prepared to listen and, at least, set up a review of London government that would include the possibility of smaller boroughs. |