WEST Somerset Council has fired the first volley in its fight to survive a major local government reorganisation that could spell the authority's end. A majority of councillors - 16 - voted not to support Somerset County Council's bid for a single unitary authority at a special meeting this week to decide the district's view on Government proposals to change the current structures. Instead, although half a dozen councillors abstained and more than that were absent, the council backed a move to push for an improved working partnership between all five districts and the county. A third option - to create two unitary authorities to govern Somerset that could have seen West Somerset joining with Taunton Deane and Sedgemoor - was also rejected. The partnership approach, based on the document 'Team Somerset' drawn up by all five district authorities, has won the support of Sedgemoor, Taunton Deane and Mendip. But it is only the second choice for South Somerset, which will be submitting a bid for an East Somerset unitary authority to cover its area and Mendip. The bid to improve the current two-tier structure will, obviously, also lack the support of one vital partner - the county council. All authorities had been given a deadline of yesterday (Thursday) to put forward their options for change after the Government's White Paper made it clear retaining the status quo could not be considered. But an attempt by Cllr Martyn Snell to persuade West Somerset to defer its decision for a fortnight fell by 14 votes to eight. With the Team Somerset document only published in its final form on Wednesday - the day of the West Somerset meeting - Cllr Snell said the seven-point recommendation put forward by council leader Cllr Christine Lawrence needed more reflection. "I urge people not to vote today," he said. "This is such a rush. We have only seen these recommendations for the first time now - by voting today what do we gain? "What does it achieve? We should bring this back to a full council in two to three weeks to allow a considered view." Cllr Simon Stokes also questioned the speed of the decision. "How can we challenge the county council for not having thought through its unitary bid when we will be doing the same if we vote for Team Somerset - a proposal that we haven't even had the chance to read before today?" Cllr Lawrence, who is also a county councillor but voted against the unitary bid, had earlier voiced her concern over the shortness of the timescale set down by the Government. But she said the decision made by West Somerset had to be what was best for the district as a whole. Councillors were told that 79 per cent of parish and town councils in the district had rejected the single unitary option, with 18 per cent supporting the creation of two unitaries, 73 per cent backing the improved partnership working and nine per cent undecided. Cllr Lawrence said the case for a single unitary had not been proved, while a two-unitary option would worryingly split responsibility for major services such as education and social services. But she said the Team Somerset proposal would not mean things staying as they were. "It does mean that we have to do better, we have to work harder to deliver better services for the good of the people we represent." Many councillors voiced concerns about the level of predicted savings, the set-up costs, the transfer of assets and the uniqueness and extreme rurality of West Somerset which would make it difficult to be 'shoe-horned' into a solution which might well suit more urban authorities. But their biggest fear was the lack of representation or 'democratic deficit' in the single unitary proposal which would leave West Somerset with just eight councillors to fight its corner. Cllr Steven Pugsley, who is also chairman of the Exmoor National Park Authority, said he believed councillors' duty was to the area, rather than the future of the district council. But he said he could not support either a single or dual authority bid. The paucity of the proposed level of representation in West Somerset was bound to work against it, said Cllr Pugsley. "I have never seen anywhere where resources do not follow representation." But Cllr David Banks launched a fierce attack on the case mounted by opponents of the single unitary option, claiming confusion, misinformation and propaganda reigned. He said an immediate attraction and cost saving would be just one chief executive instead of the current six. And he insisted that the idea of improving the working relationship between the county and district councils was tantamount to retaining the status quo. "If efficiencies can be achieved why have we had to wait eight years with the cabinet system for them to be realised?" he asked. "The reality is we are a weak council." Cllr Banks said blame had been poured on the ruling Liberal Democrats at County Hall for proposing a single unitary authority and on the Labour Party for introducing the White Paper demanding changes, while the Conservatives were supposed to be blame free. But he said he objected to the suggestion that anyone supporting anything other than the Team Somerset approach was being unpatriotic to West Somerset. "That is bullying. I want to do what is best for West Somerset but I am alarmed at the lack of confidence in the district's future. "West Somerset will survive, prosper and flourish and we should embrace change and run with it."
