Ulster Unionist Peer Lord Empey has described the proposed new local government arrangements as “what must be one of Stormont's worst reforms” and warned that local government elections planned for 2014 are on a knife edge in terms of the amount of time available to prepare for them.
Speaking following a debate in the House of Lords on Tuesday evening, on a proposal to give the Secretary of State powers to appoint a District Electoral Areas Commissioner to draw up proposals to set new DEA boundaries for the new Councils, Lord Empey said:
“it is clear that at best it will be next summer at the earliest before this work can be completed. Indeed it is likely that it could take even longer meaning that the time to prepare for these elections will be very short - perhaps only a few months.
Given that this process started in 2001, and it will be 2015 before the new Councils take power, it will have taken 14 years to reorganise local government for a mere 1.8 million people! This is hardly Stormont's finest hour.”
Speaking during the debate. Lord Empey described some of the proposals for the new Councils as 'barking mad' given that Northern Ireland was unique within the UK because the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner was legally prohibited from taking 'local identity' into account in drawing up the new areas.
Lord Empey asked,
“In what other country would 'local identity' be not considered as a material factor in determining the most appropriate arrangements for local government? As a result of these proposals which were developed and led by the DUP and Sinn Fein we have an unwanted merger of Fermanagh and Omagh Councils, a bizarre proposal to link Strabane Council area, which includes Castlederg, with Londonderry City when it should be joined with adjacent Omagh, and the outrageous proposals for Belfast where Ballybeen and the Dundonald area will be part of Lisburn!
Furthermore, the proposals for Belfast are nothing short of a gerrymander and will leave the City constrained by boundaries fixed over 100 years ago, rather than boundaries which reflect the City of the 21st Century.”