The leaders of Somerset’s district councils have told Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, that a recent poll of residents has found “a crystal-clear majority for two unitary authorities.”
In the letter, the leaders confirm that the district councils have a transition team ready to engage with Government officials on the next stage towards implementation.
In the recent poll, 65.3% voted of 111,000 respondents voted for two unitaries delivering services close to the communities of Eastern and Western Somerset. 34.7% supported a proposal for a single unitary.
Somerset County Council, which wants just one local authority, says the poll was “deeply flawed” and “biased”. The county council, which took no part in the poll, wants to dissolve itself and the four district councils – Mendip, Somerset West and Taunton, Sedgemoor and South Somerset – for business reasons.
But the district council leaders state in this week’s letter: “There is a crystal-clear majority for two unitary authorities, not one. And this is the third time the Somerset public have rejected a County Council single unitary; In the 2007 referendum where 82% opposed a single unitary council, in the Ipsos MORI poll late last year where a single unitary was the last option people wanted, and now in the recent referendum.”
“These results are not anomalies. There is consistent, longstanding and deeply felt opposition to a County Council unitary expressed several times over many years. Each time the people of Somerset are asked they repeat exactly the same answer.”
“Our judgement is that it is vital to the credibility of the decision-making process and to the delivery of the Government’s goal of ‘levelling up’ that you now declare Stronger Somerset the preferred option.”
Last month, the district councils’ vote was criticised by Mr Jenrick, who was angered when a spoof website was referenced on a leaflet sent to voters with polling information.
A county council spokesperson said residents had already been asked for their views in the government’s official consultation.
