THE item in Monday’s Echo about the bias of the “Super Council” consultation is spot on.

It is not objective in any way whatsoever and is designed only to get a pre-determined answer.

It is also highly discriminatory in as much as it is only available online and therefore excludes a still significant proportion of the population who are not connected.

As a former councillor still in touch with, and accessible to, many residents, I have been contacted by people about how they can respond if not connected to the internet. I have not been able to provide them with an address to write to, but have pointed them to the council in the hope that their view can be passed on.

The other thing that alarmed me, and I only read this in the Echo, is that elected councillors are being told not to comment or pre-determine the outcome – why?

This is not a planning application involving a third party, or parties, that should get a fair hearing and open minded consideration, this is a decision being made by and affecting all Dorset’s constituent councils.

Muffling discussion during the consultation process is denying questions and challenges. I did not experience any of the roadshows so cannot comment on their fairness – though I suspect it was a similar “selling” exercise as the online consultation “facts” were.

This process can, and should (if anyone can afford it) be legally challenged.

I hope the one local MP, Christopher Chope, who stuck his head above the parapet, can point out to the government that the Bournemouth, Poole & Dorset proposals do not even meet the criteria followed by other parts of the UK of devolving powers downwards from Govt.

This is pushing it all upwards to a less representative and more remote “ivory tower”, where local needs and concerns will get a lot less consideration. Similar councils have been, or are being considered to be, broken down into more accessible units.

Is this purely a political move to concentrate power and remove challenge?

Tony Trent

Former Poole Councillor for Alderney, Fraser Road, Poole

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