Local councils are no longer in charge

Struggling to contact your GP? Frustrated by increasing congestion on local roads? Unfortunately it will get much worse. Including building sanctioned but not yet undertaken, Charnwood’s Local Plan proposes 19,461 further homes in the next 16 years!

Are our elected representatives powerless? Apparently so. The sleeping giant of local government has meekly surrendered its democratic authority over the past 40 years or more. On major issues it is now virtually the administrative tool of central government. Housing quotas (fairly allocated?) are imposed from Whitehall with infrastructure lagging far behind. The Local Plan refers to schools, but surgeries and roads receive no mention.

This need not be. Local government nationally has enormous potential to recover lost ground. The country cannot function without it, it has extensive local knowledge and a strong electoral mandate. Only the will to flex its muscles is missing.

The Office for National Statistics states that UK population growth averaged 0.67% annually in the past 10 years. It believes this rate will now reduce by half until 2040. Does this justify the present building frenzy? Most new homes are clearly not for the disadvantaged.

Growth brings economic benefits but generally comes at a price. The rapid loss of green fields threatens quality of life, the environment and safety of the planet, besides greater flood risks as climate change advances.

Please respond to the consultation. The necessary form is available from the council and can be downloaded and completed on the CBC website. Or is public opinion another sleeping giant, oblivious to its fate?

David Stevenson, Shepshed