SOON West Dorset District councillors vote on a recommendation for a Tri-Council Partnership with Weymouth and Portland and North Dorset District Council in a new ‘member-led’ organisation.

Do members of the public get a say? No, only councillors. Was it in the election manifesto? No.

Properly interactively debated with the public? No. Discussed in terms of numbers of tiers of local government? No.

Covered in WDDC’s information newspaper to all residents, ‘Community Link’? No. This news-source has ended.

WDDC made a dash for its new council offices on Charles Street South Public car park, previously ear-marked as part of a transformational new shopping-development.

They took-up over a third of all Charles Street car parking for the office.

Recently a West Dorset District Council director said in a meeting overlooking the remaining car park area: “We’re short of 150 car parking spaces”. True.

We were sitting on them.

So dare we now entrust them with another tri-partite ‘dash’, persuaded by benefits such as ‘independence with interdependence’ and a government grant, worth less than WDDC lost on its promised sales revenue for their old council-offices?

The real analysis needed – not debated in this recommendation – is would such a partnership reinforce the middle-tier of Local Govern-ment, thereby complicating Dorset streamlining to a successful unitary system like Wiltshire’s?

And what does WDDC’s recommendation tell us financially of the unitary option?

It doesn’t. There’s no analysis.

The executive summarily dismisses ‘unitary’ by saying ‘it would require government action which at present seems unlikely’.

So who will examine the case?

I’ve written to West Dorset District Council leader Robert Gould to ask if he, as leader, irrespective of how his party-colleagues vote would lead the way in a debate with a panel of members of the public in the Corn Exchange, so that some of the 100,000 ‘electorate-members’ can discuss this whole issue.

John Grantham

Middle Street

Burton Bradstock