By Isle of Wight Observer
Despite Christmas and New Year, it has been a busy few weeks at County Hall.
Much of the public discussion and debate on the issue of devolution to date has been ill informed and misleading. Unfortunately, much of this has been generated by certain councillors playing politics rather than thinking about their residents.
I want to make it absolutely clear that the aim of myself and the Cabinet in all this is to maintain and strengthen the position of the Isle of Wight and its local government.
Last night we decided to apply to be part of the Government’s priority programme to potentially receive devolved powers from Westminster. It must be clearly stated that this does not mean the end of the Isle of Wight Council. Instead, it means that the Isle of Wight will sit alongside other local authorities as equals to exercise the new powers and funding to be handed down. All members will be equal. Voting will be on a unanimous basis and no member authority will have a veto. For us this is particularly interesting as the powers we receive could give us greater control over our transport links – including of course the cross-Solent ferries, which affect the Island and its economy in so many ways.
Much has been made of the vote against this move at Full Council on Wednesday evening. However, it must be remembered that Cabinet members were unable to vote at that meeting. When one looks at the totality of opinion, now that Cabinet have been able to vote, there is a clear majority amongst elected members for the decision we have made.
There is separate issue, which has unfortunately confused matters, whereby the government intends to create new unitary councils across the country. We are already a unitary authority. However, government has also indicated its aim that unitary authorities should represent at least 500,000 people. The Island has a population of 140,000. However, importantly, Government has also indicated that exceptions can be made to the rule.
Very importantly, entering onto the Priority Programme for Devolution allows us to defer this other issue.
This is important as doing so gives us the time to put forward a case to be treated as an exception. We have the basis of a very strong case due to being an Island. Pursuing the Priority Programme for Devolution gives us the best chance to make this case, and we will work to ensure we are successful. In part this is also because the strength of the Isle of Wight as an authority is likely to be increased through the devolution process.
As an aside to these issues, the possibility of Council elections being deferred for a year has been raised. The importance of a deferment is that it will free up time that would otherwise be unavailable to carry out the work necessary to create a Combined Authority within the Priority Programme timescales. It was also made clear at the Cabinet meeting last night that government views a request for deferral as an indication that we are serious and that we want to make a Combined Authority work. For this reason, the Cabinet has asked for such a deferral. It will be for government to decide if this is granted and, as I understand it, will only occur if we are accepted onto the Priority Devolution Programme. We did not take this decision lightly but, frankly, we did not have a free choice if we are to do the best for the Island.