'Death of democracy' fears aired by MP as council reorganisation deadline looms closer

CONSTITUENTS BEING FORCED INTO AREAS THEY DON'T WANT TO GO

- By HARRY TAYLOR

REORGANISATIONS of councils in England could lead to the “death of democracy” an MP has said, as a chorus of Conservatives urged the government to reconsider its plans.

Alicia Kearns, Conservative MP for Rutland and Stamford, was among those who said proposals that threaten to tear up local council boundaries and powers in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Rutland could ride roughshod over residents’ sentiment.

Meanwhile, former Culture Secretary Sir John Whittingdale stressed the need for residents to be locally represented, amid changes affecting his Essex constituency.

Ministers have announced that council boundaries will be redrawn, with two-tier council areas - such as Leicestershire, where the county council divide responsibility for a range of services with borough and district councils - to be replaced with one larger unitary body that will look after all services, from rubbish collection to education, social care to highways and everything inbetween.

All eventual unitary bodies will need to have populations of about 500,000, forcing mergers of smaller councils, including Rutland, which only has 40,000 residents.