Curb
this unelected assembly
Evening
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HAS anyone reading this heard
of the South West Regional Assembly? Do any of you know what powers it has? Or who sits on it? The chances are that very few people
reading this will know anything about this organisation. That is mainly because
it is a Government quango ‑ an unelected body that is unrepresentative
and virtually unaccountable for its actions. It does number councillors among
its ranks drawn from authorities all over the South West. But
we don't elect them to sit on the assembly, we vote for them to sit on
councils. Their membership of the assembly is incidental.
Yet this group of people have
ratified a decision to build thousands of new houses in the coming years. They
have upheld the idea of digging up the green belt and constructing homes and
roads. Never mind that individual councils oppose the ideas, the assembly will
get its way.
It is a powerful body doing
the bidding of Government and overriding the wishes of elected councils. And as with all bodies that operate on a regional basis it
doesn't have the depth of detailed local knowledge so vital in making crucial
decisions about developments.
We are told
that almost 100,000 new homes have to be built around
pressure on our roads and services.
This is decision‑making
on a grand scale and by the back door and it is undemocratic and unacceptable.