It's that man again

A headline in the Salisbury Journal reads ‘Council decision is a victory for democracy’. There is certainly great relief that the council has agreed to review and significantly change the plans to build 12,500 new houses in the area by 2026. However, nice though that is, I don’t think that we can afford to be complacent.

On the opposite page in The Journal is a letter from Julian Johnson (The Crusader’s Councillor for April 2008). Oh dear, why does that man irritate me so much? I must try to be more tolerant, actually he is only telling the truth.

Julian is responding to a letter published in a previous edition of The Journal which seems to have implied that the South West Regional Assembly (SWRA), on which Julian sits, is part of an evil EU conspiracy to subvert British democracy. Julian says that the SWRA does not receive EU funding and that 70% of the members are elected – as indeed they are but to County Councils and local authorities, not to the SWRA. The other 30% of members are appointed and are the great a good, or at any rate the available and compliant, representing one would guess special interest groups.

If you look at SWRA’s website they also make a big point of stating that they are not funded or directed by the EU. So presumably this is a charge that is made quite often which, of course, doesn’t make it true.

In two years all the regional assemblies will be abolished and their planning powers passed to the Regional Development Agencies.

Which leaves us where exactly? For a start awed by the amount of money that appears to be sloshing around, over £4.5 million for 2007/08, to support an organisation that meets three times a year, but I suppose they have lots of groups and sub-committees that discuss things and generally have nice thoughts.

The Crusader is most concerned that this whole vast edifice is really just a huge, expensive rubber stamp.

Julian states correctly that SWRA’s planning body originally came up with a figure of 9,200 houses for Salisbury District but that this figure was increased by 35% to 12,400 by an independent panel of planning inspectors appointed by the government.

So the SWRA, Wiltshire County Council and Salisbury District Council all just meekly accepted that they had to do as they were told, despite the fact that local consultation and experience had suggested that a much smaller number of houses would be appropriate.

I can understand civil servants obeying orders but our elected representatives? Surely they should have some backbone if they really think that something is wrong? Or am I being idealistic?