Stop the Buck-Passing
At our January meeting of the Full County Council I raised the issue of Unitary Governance for the whole area of Cumbria. This would involve removing the confusing system we have at present of six Districts and one County Authority. It would provide all the services from housing, social care, children’s services, transport and highways plus a raft of other services under one Council, leaving the Parish Councils alone to do their local work.
This would be a major re-organisation but from a recent report from Ernest Young the Accountancy firm this would result in a saving of between 50 to 80 million pounds over a five year period. I have been an advocate for this for some time and will keep on pressing all colleagues from all Councils to bite the bullet and make the decision to help simplify our Council system and make it easier for residents to access all services in a more timely and efficient way.
Don't Forget to Test Your Smoke Detectors - it could save your life and that of your family
I have just had a reminder from our Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service asking us all to test our smoke detectors every month. Smoke detectors do save lives and it only takes a few minutes each month to check them.
Care Housing
At present the County Council Scrutiny Board is looking at the provision of Extra Care Housing in the County. This is housing which meets the requirements of those who do not need high-level residential/nursing care over the next decade. The Strategy is to work with partner councils, developers and housing partners to introduce more schemes where people have their own accommodation rather than residential care or shared housing.
Regards
Bill Wearing
Conservative County Councillor Grange Division.