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Wednesday 24 February 2016

"Stop the devolution process" petition >>> "The so called Devolution process taking place in Devon and Somerset right now, is an totally undemocratic and possibly unlawful transfer of power from local authorities to a quango of unelected and unaccountable business people called the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership."

There is considerable disquiet over the devolution process - and the role of the LEP:
Futures Forum: Local Enterprise Partnerships: "these next couple of weeks are crucial" for the Heart of the South West devolution bid
Futures Forum: "Local Enterprise Partnerships would appear to embody everything that is bereft of vision, imagination and indeed any of the kind of creativity and thinking that these times demand."

In Oxfordshire, a petition has been initiated to question the process there:
Petition · Greg Clark MP, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local government: Make Local Enterprise Partnerships accountable to the public · Change.org

And the South Devon Watch blog has initiated a petition around the Heart of the South West devolution bid:


STOP THE 'UNLAWFUL' DEVOLUTION PROCESS IN DEVON AND SOMERSET

















The so called Devolution process taking place in Devon and Somerset right now, is an totally undemocratic and possibly unlawful transfer of power from local authorities to a quango of unelected and unaccountable business people called the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership. 
Their meetings are held in secret and their minutes are not published.  They control £4 billion worth of grants from the government and the EU and have spent millions on Hinkley C power station.  These are the people, nearly all property developers and construction CEOs who are writing the devolution bid for Devon and Somerset.  Whilst local councils have their budgets slashed to a point they can barely function, the LEP enables enormous construction projects and is pushing for the building of 179,000 new homes, which are not affordable. 
Local people are being shut out of decision making processes altogether while the responsibility for care homes, roads and house building is passed over to this opaque and remote quango, whose only goal is growth at the expense of everything else.


Petition · Devon County Council: STOP THE UNLAWFUL DEVOLUTION PROCESS IN DEVON · Change.org
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