But in addition he suggests the need for further changes that could include election – rather than appointment – of portfolio holders and local government decision-making that is more open and transparent.
“I have found from my time as a county councillor that sclerotic decision-making processes pervade the whole of local government,” he said.
“Abolishing the district council would be a start, but not the only requirement.”
Cllr Stevenson says that since his election to the county council he has found there to be ‘at least seven stages for each decision’ – with most of these stages, he says, in private and with key decisions not even open to all elected councillors.
By Deborah Price and Nathan Louis
County Hall in Hertford, home of Hertfordshire County Council. Credit: Jack Hill A county councillor has resigned from the Conservative Party – to make the case for genuine local government reform. Technology entrepreneur Cllr Andrew Stevenson believes Hertfordshire’s current two-tier system of local government is too bureaucratic, with too many councils and too many councillors. He says that much of local government has become historic theatre with more theatre than substance . The Hertford councillor says his resignation from the Conservative Party will give him greater freedom to speak out as an independent councillor. The move comes just months after leader of Hertfordshire County Council, Conservative Cllr David Williams, openly backed the idea of a single unitary council for the county.
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