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An MHK claims the infrastructure minister has done nothing to progress local authority reform during the Quayle administration.

 

Lawrie Hooper says Ray Harmer has ‘taken a back seat’ on this subject, and shown ‘no willingness’ to drive reform on issues like housing at a local level.

 

Last week, Mr Harmer praised moves by Arbory and Rushen Commissioners to explore merging to form a new authority.

 

The minister is an advocate for the ‘organic’ transition of local authorities, and says dictating changes from above is an ineffective strategy.

 

But his record on this has been called in to question by Mr Hooper, who wants the department to tackle ‘the duplication, and uneven provision of services’ across the Island.

 

“For years we’ve been too hung up on how many local authorities we have, when really the key issue should be what services do we want from local and national government, what’s the best way of providing them, and how to we fund them?”

 

The Ramsey MHK told Local Democracy Reporter Ewan Gawne many ratepayers aren’t clear on the differences between central and local government:

 

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