Last Thursday, the Dorset County Council (DDC) voted to merge our West Dorset District Council (WDDC) with others to form one much larger body.

There are arguments for and against such a structural change: perhaps it might be more efficient, but it is likely to reduce the democratic influence of a small town. Such debates are the essence of democracy. Presumably, creating a close economic relationship between several councils is the local equivalent of the European Union and should be put to the voters in a referendum.

I was pleased that the chairman of the WDDC Peter Shorland attended our Public First democracy meeting in Sherborne on February 29. Since rumours of a move to a merged mega-council were in the air, I asked him whether he would insist that any such drastic change would be put to the voters in a vote. He replied without equivocation: “Of course.”

The cynics among us might see the rush towards a unitary council as an effort to neutralize the nascent reforms proposed in the referendum that will be held on May 5th, where Public First proposes more democratic rules, with cross-party committees controlling all the decisions, rather than the “executive” cabinet.

Be that as it may, since the DCC has now decided that it wants a referendum itself on a different issue, I hope we have heard the last of the official whining about the cost of the May 5th referendum – which proposes democratic accountability that the WDDC could have achieved without any cost at all. I trust, also, that any proposal for a unitary council will be structured in such a way as to respect the result on May 5th.

Clive A. Stafford Smith

Chairman Public First Group