South Northamptonshire Council The Forum, Moat Ln, Towcester NN12 6AD Telephone: 01327 322322 Fax: 01327 322074 ORS, CllrDX: 16938 Steven Hollowell, FREEPOST (SS1018), PO BOX 530, 6 Nene Rise, Cogenhoe, Swansea Northampton. SA1 1ZL. NN7 1NT Tel: 01604 890346 Email:
[email protected] Date: 9th July 2018. Dear Sirs, CONSULTATION ON THE FUTURE PATTERN OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 1. The Consultation Process 1.1 The above consultation is basically flawed, giving rise to the belief of many Northamptonshire electors that their views are not really valued and that this consultation exercise is no more than that – an exercise, and that Mr P. Rowsell, the unelected civil servant driving this process, will do what he was going to do anyway. 1.2 The consultation is flawed for the following reasons: First, you do not point out that the failings at NCC were not the cause of it not being a unitary council. It was instead, the result of gross negligence. Had NCC been a unitary council and had the same people been running it, exactly the same thing would have happened. 1.3 Second, the seven boroughs and districts commissioned, at great expense, a report from Deloitte immediately prior to Mr Rowsell’s intervention. Why was this report and its recommendations not mentioned in the consultation document? In its conclusion, the Deloitte report includes: “If Central Government’s consideration of options for local government reorganisation is driven by the County Council crisis and conclusions made in the best value inspection report, then a two unitary model (option 3a) is likely to be preferred.