Democracy is now faltering in Dorset – that’s the claim being made by some district and borough councillors.

They say the shadow Dorset Council executive is taking major decision-making away from them although they have five months remaining as sovereign councils.

In West Dorset there is anger over the refusal to allow the district council to transfer public loos to town and parish councils. In Weymouth and Portland councillors are concerned that they will not be handing over car parks or the borough’s hotels to the new Weymouth Town Council – because the shadow executive says it wants to have them for the new unitary council.

The shadow council executive has said that it will need to maximise its income to support key services when the new unitary council comes into being in April 2019. These include social services for both adults and children where there is growing demand and a history of budget overspends because the need for services can never be accurately predicted.

Said Jonathan Mair, interim monitoring officer for the shadow Dorset Council: “At present 172 district, borough and county councillors are responsible for overseeing six different councils. The legal order creating the new council has formed a Shadow Executive Committee of 20 of those councillors and their role is to oversee the safe transfer of services to the new council.

“Each of the existing councils has appointed councillors to be part of the shadow executive committee. Not all 172 councillors can be members of the Shadow Executive Committee of 20 and take decisions but that does not make the arrangements undemocratic.”

But Bridport councillor David Rickard says district councillors now have few powers to make major decisions, despite promises at the start of the local government change process of ‘business as usual’ until March next year.

At the centre of the arguments is a £100,000 limit to transfers. Beyond that figure the shadow executive has to be consulted and has the power to over-rule the decisions of existing district and borough councils.

“The problem now is that as soon as anything goes to the shadow (executive) we lose it. There is an awful lot they could have done at devolved level but now democracy is falling apart,” said Cllr Rickard.

He said he believed that, ultimately, the shadow executive’s refusal to allow transfer of services will put both assets and services at risk at local level as well as undermine the larger town and parish councils.

“This process has wasted hundreds of hours of officer and councillor time.

“It has tainted the legacy of this council. Matt Prosser (former chief executive and now head of the new council) said how he wanted us to finish well. We won’t now. We’ll finish with egg on our face and a bad taste in people’s mouths,” Cllr Rickard told the West Dorset overview and scrutiny committee.

Cllr Jacqui Sewell said she was ‘gobsmacked’ when she discovered how the £100,000 limit was being applied by the shadow executive.

“The leader (Rebecca Knox) said the change process should connect and empower people. This is not doing that, but hopefully we’ll find a solution so we can end on a good record.”

Cllr Tim Harries said the decision making process amounted to “a shameless power grab by a council which is short of a few bob”

“We have been sold right down the river. It’s a complete disgrace. It’s the worst thing I have seen in 32 years as a councillor.”

Some district and borough councillors believe the £100,000 limit was meant to apply to individual items – but Mr Rickard says the shadow council is viewing it as a global figure for each district or borough, although some exceptions are being made for Weymouth where a town council is being set up for the first time.

He has also asked the West Dorset overview and scrutiny committee to investigate the advice councillors were given by its officers about the financial limit for transfers.

Dorchester councillor Molly Rennie said she found the refusal to allow the transfer of West Dorset toilets questionable: “These are services which would have been a drain on the new council’s resources…I now feel there is a lack of confidence in it.”

Said Dorchester councillor David Taylor: “Authority has been stripped from our hand…we are not being given the authority to do our job properly…we are going forward faster and faster with less we have a say over. It seems almost everything is out of our grasp now.”

He said he found it frustrating that, as a councillor, he was not allowed to attend shadow executive meetings and ask a question without submitting it in advance: “I’m told to shut up and not say anything..a few people are taking complete control from us.”

Shadow executive member Cllr Daryl Turner suggested that the way forward would be for councillors to put resolutions to the shadow council for debate.

Each of the existing district and borough councillors is a member of the full shadow council which has its next meeting in Dorchester on December 13 with two overview and scrutiny committee earlier in the month.

SHADOW EXECUTIVE 'COMMITTED' TO WORKING WITH COUNCILS

Said Mr Mair: “The shadow council has formed a shadow overview and scrutiny committee. Its role on behalf of all councillors is to review the work of the shadow executive committee…it has formal powers to call members of the shadow executive committee to account for their decisions.

“In addition to these formal democratic checks and balances we actively welcome and encourage views and questions.

“The shadow executive committee is committed to working with parish and town councils to deliver public services and has agreed a protocol to guide how it will make important decisions about the future arrangements for services and ownership of council assets.

“Part of the role of the shadow executive committee is to ensure that the new Dorset Council will be in a position to provide sustainable public services into the future. The new council will not be able to do that if the buildings, income streams and council balances (cash) it will need have been transferred away. Existing district, borough and county councillors have an important voice about which council assets and services should be considered for transfer to parish and town councils but they do not have the final say.”

The spokesperson says that the shadow “actively” welcomes and encourages different views and questions and offers regular sessions for both elected members and employees to shape what it is doing.

“Towns, parishes and the unitary council will all serve the residents of Dorset, as the existing councils do now, but is it right that assets are consistently distributed to enable the relevant councils to operate.”