Tories say it's council officers who rule Wiltshire

I’M still as fed up as ever with party politics in local government and the damage it does to Salisbury.

But from two leading lights on the local political scene, here’s another explanation for a lot of what goes wrong. They sound so disillusioned that I almost feel sorry for them.

Incidentally, I’m loving the effect our Facebook group, SOS – Save Our Salisbury, is having in stimulating debate like this.

I posted on SOS about the Handforth Parish Council debacle and pointed out that whilst we all howled with laughter at that, Salisbury’s grandly-titled city council is actually just a parish council, too.

It drew the following responses from the chairman of Salisbury Conservative Association, Kevin Daley, and one of his predecessors, John Brady. I’ve slightly edited them for reasons of clarity.

Firstly, former Wiltshire cabinet member and ex-district councillor Mr Brady, reflecting on how greenfield housing development alongside Netherhampton Road came to be permitted despite hundreds of protests.

“The real power does not lie with parish/town councils or with the unitary councils,’ he wrote. 

“It is the officers who make the decisions (recommendations). They know that councillors are transient and as with Harnham, where councillors persuaded them to take a proposed development off the Strategic Plan, officers reinstated it as soon as they could when dealing with a different councillor (cabinet member). 

“All the ‘consultation’ that has to be done is a complete waste of time as I know that this is merely a way of allowing locals to let off steam.”

Sounds very much like ‘Yes Minister’, doesn’t it? 

“Even if a planning committee goes against an officer’s recommendation and refuses a new development, experience shows that nearly in every case, this is overturned on appeal with costs being awarded against the council,” added Mr Brady. “There are notable exceptions but they are few and far between.”

And here’s what current Wiltshire and city councillor Kevin Daley replied.

“Well said. Councillors are frequently undermined and circumvented by the officers. 

“People become councillors because they see what is wrong and what they can do to make a difference, but after four years of banging your head against a brick wall you just give in.”

Of course there could be a fair bit of blame-shifting going on here, what with local elections coming up and some pretty unpopular decisions in Trowbridge having affected Salisbury again lately.

But what a devastating critique of our system.

Now SOS is trying to persuade people to stand as independent candidates for our humble parish council. But a lot of people, reading this, will shake their heads and ask: “What’s the point?”

Like Messrs Brady and Daley, I believe the unitary authority has been a disaster for our city and the communities that depend on it.

The asset-stripping that’s gone on makes it hard to see how  Salisbury could ever return to its former status as the administrative centre of south Wiltshire. 

But it could certainly do with a strong, independent voice to represent all its residents and businesses.

For me, it boils down to this: “If you feel strongly about something, do something about it.”