Cookham-on-Thames
Over the past week I was involved with the sudden crisis in local government inflicted on us by Labour ministers, while also spending time with the paintings of one of England’s most popular artists and with my comrades in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
First, following on from Blog 2, Devolution (Devo) and Local Government Reorganisation (LRG) came up last Tuesday evening at the Governance Committee on which I serve as a member of North Devon Council. We were asked to give members who are also county councillors special dispensation to take part in a debate on Devolution etc at an Extraordinary Full Council meeting to be held two days later. County councillors might be thought to have a conflict of interest when we discussed whether county council elections should be held as planned in May or postponed while Devon sorts out its future governance. Some on our committee thought county councillors should be excluded from the discussion – allowed only to speak as ‘members of the public’ – but the majority of us, including me, thought we should be more collegiate and trust our colleagues to put the wellbeing of the North Devon residents first.
Map of Devon – how to turn the county into two local authorities?
At the Full Council meeting one Conservative member who is also a county Cllr argued that the complex arrangements that must be put in place at great speed need experienced cllrs rather than newbies. Well, to quote Mandy Rice Davies, she would say that wouldn’t she? We voted resoundingly in favour of the elections to go ahead in May but the Minister for Local Government has already decreed that district councils’ views are irrelevant on this issue – so our residents will not have the chance to vote on who should set up their future governance. This is shocking. Labour turns out to be as power-grabbing, self-serving and ruthless as the Tories. Residents will become remote from their representatives. And as for the proposed mayors leading new ‘Strategic Authorities’ – the antics of Ben Houchen in the North East and Boris Johnson in London should give us all pause for thought.
At the Local Government Association conference for Independents
With three other North Devon Independent / Green cllrs I headed off to Cookham for this conference, held on Saturday. It was great to hear feisty fellow cllrs condemning the government’s moves on Devo etc – which were not mentioned in the manifesto on which Labour was elected. I was impressed by the analysis of Professor Colin Copus: ‘Tory policies on speed: a mess – rushed and contemptuous of local government’. The only positive I can see is if we can persuade the government to adopt modern voting systems, rather than first-past-the-post, for future local and mayoral elections. Fat chance, I hear you say.
Stanley Spencer
After breakfast and before the conference began on Saturday, I strolled through Cookham, taking in Stanley Spence’s birthplace, then took a good look at the river he swam in often and painted many times – the mighty Thames was full and surging. I slipped out at lunchtime and visited the Stanley Spencer Gallery. It is in the methodist chapel where Spencer worshipped as a boy. It has been beautifully converted. Spencer was at once an intensely local artist and a national one, a painter who relished prosaic details but also painted visions.
The Thames at Cookham
Looking at Spencer’s pictures and places, especially the Thames – I reflected on Devo etc. and our national river. The Thames flows through our shires and villages to the capital, gathering power as it goes. Shouldn’t our governance work like this – growing from the smaller settlements to the larger and finally to the capital? Is what the government is doing like trying to reverse the flow of the Thames? Our previous MP, a Conservative, seemed to think her job was to represent government to us rather than us to government. Our new MP, Ian Roome, is a former leader of our district council. I’m confident he’ll represent us to government.
Vigil
I can’t end this blog without sharing a photo from our latest Wednesday afternoon Vigil for Gaza in Barnstaple – our 61st I think since 7.10.23 – and a poem posted on Instagram by a writer I greatly admire – Mosab Abu Toha.
Thanks for reading.
