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White Paper Briefing for West Somerset Councils

Published: 10th January 2007 17:21

West Somerset Council is holding a briefing on the White Paper on Proposals for Local Government Reorganisation for representatives from Parish and Town Councils at the Council Chambers in Williton at 6.30 on January 19.

The council has already written to councils asking them for their initial preferences given that full business cases have yet to be published for any of the options. Currently, the three options are:

· A single Unitary Authority serving the whole of Somerset and its population of 517,000
· Two Unitary Authorities serving the whole population of Somerset with a population of about 250,00 each. One authority would be based upon the South Somerset and Mendip districts, while the other would comprise the West Somerset, Sedgemoor and Taunton Deane districts.

· Retaining and enhancing the current two-tier arrangement which comprises of County and District Councils continuing to work together to provide improved working and enhanced services while achieving cost reductions.

Council Leader Cllr Christine Lawrence said, “Our own council is awaiting full business cases for all options but the survey will give us an indication of local authorities’ initial feelings.

“We are hoping for good representation at the meeting next week because it will give the council a chance to update representatives on where we are with the local government review and the White Paper generally.”

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