Owen Temple

I’m sorry that no-one else has commented on Dominic Haney’s call for a referendum on the projects for the Capital Initiative Fund which makes £60,000 available to spend on a project in Consett North Ward. However, as prmised here’s my reply:

Dear Dominic,

Thank you for your email and the excellent research you have done in this area.  As you know, I attach great importance to the principle of community involvement in the decision making process, a process which requires regular communication and effective media. Representative government can only occur where there is a free and two way flow of information. On the other hand representative government cannot work if each and every decision is made by a universal popular vote because in that case representative politics has ceased. Clearly representative government is not the only form of government that could work, though I think it is fair to say that it is the method almost universally adopted by those nations that are normally described as democratic, with referenda used only in a relatively small number of situations, mostly those with a simple binary Yes/No decision. In the

UK there have only been eight major referenda in the last 35 years.

  Actually I do support the use of referenda for very important decisions, especially constitutional ones, which is why Liberal Democrats called for a referendum on the question of whether

Britain should remain a part of the European Community. I would support a referendum on the issue of compulsory ID cards which, in my view, would fundamentally change the relationship between the individual and the state. I would not support one on whether income tax should be set at 20% or 22% because such a decision is essentially temporary and well capable of being decided by representative democracy through popular elections.  In the case of the particular situation we face, the figures you have supplied give a total cost, inclusive of VAT, of £7,172 or 12% of the money available. In fact this is likely to be a significant underestimate of the cost because it involves only the costs of the electoral reform society, excluding the costs to the local authority in officer time in the preparation and provision address data electronically (probably quite a small cost) and the preparation of an attractive and informative 4 page A4 information sheet (probably rather more).   For me the issue of the Capital Initiative Fund fails the test of whether a referendum would be appropriate on two grounds. The decision is not fundamental enough to justify a referendum; the cost of a referendum is disproportionate to the potential gain in terms of popular involvement.  That still leaves the question of how best we can inform the public of the existence of the fund, and invite their input into the decision making process. As you know, I have raised the existence of this fund at both the Berry Edge Residents Association and the Consett North Partnership. I have also published it on my website. I will ensure that it is included in my next Focus leaflet to be delivered to every home in the ward. I know this will not in itself be enough, and wonder therefore whether you could assist the publicising of this fund by letting the local media know that in your role as Chairman of the Berry Edge Residents Association you have called for a referendum on the issue. I think it would be an interesting new angle for the local press, and could well get some additional publicity for the issue and stimulate further debate in this way. You can contact the Advertiser via gavin.havery@nne.co.uk or the Derwentside Chronicle Extra via kerry.wood@ncjmedia.co.uk .Whatever you think of the referendum call, I’d be really interested to know what you think a single block of £60,000 could best be spent on in Consett North, allowing for the fact that it is a one-off capital expenditure with no requirement for ongoing payments (after the district council has ceased to exist at the end of March 2009).