IN his interesting letter (December 9), my fellow town councillor, Paul Vachon, asks 'whatever happened to democracy?'
The answer is that at county council level and at borough/district level, democracy has, to all intents and purposes, ceased to exist.
Devon County Council consists of 62 elected councillors but all day to day decisions are made by the council leader and up to nine cabinet members. Each cabinet member has a specific 'remit' highways. So the decision to install parking meters in Okehampton, without any prior consultation with Okehampton residents, was made by cabinet member Cllr S Hughes who represents a Sidmouth ward. This councillor, who made a decision affecting Okehampton, which is against the will of Okehampton residents and for which no economic or social case has been made is not accountable to the electorate of Okehampton at the polling booth.
Quite what the remaining 52 county councillors who are not cabinet members do is something of a mystery. Apparently some 45 of them sit on one of the four overview and scrutiny committees which are supposed to monitor cabinet performance and decisions. However, although an overview and scrutiny committee can 'call in' a decision made by cabinet but not yet implemented and offer amendments or recommend it be reconsidered, it has no authority to change a cabinet decision. As a watchdog, overview and scrutiny committees seem pretty toothless.
The situation is no better at West Devon Borough Council. The core strategy plan affects Okehampton to a greater amount than anywhere else in West Devon and will change the town beyond all recognition. The plan received its final approval at a meeting on April 19 of the future planning and housing committee. Not one of the councillors at that meeting who voted to approve the core strategy plan is accountable to the electorate of Okehampton at the polling booth.
West Devon Borough Council also has an overview and scrutiny committee whose responsibilities and powers are exactly the same as those as its county council counterpart and would appear to be equally toothless.
The Heath/Walker local government reform act of the early 1970s, which abolished ancient borough councils such as Okehampton and subsumed them into large district councils, tolled the death knell of local democracy and truly democratic local government has declined, and continues to decline further, ever since.
Charles Letchford
Vicarage Road
Okehampton