Is It Devolution?

Monday, 20 January 2025 16:17

By Julia Neal & Martin Webber

The Green Party County Councillor for Tonbridge, Mark Hood, has attacked the government's planned council changes as a "concentration of power".

Mark Hood told West Kent Radio that the Green Party supports devolution but he believes the current proposals are not really devolution.

He continued: "Devolution entails passing power down as close to the community as possible. But what we are actually seeing is a bit of a power grab and the concentration of more power in the hands of fewer and fewer people".

"So you are going to have an elected mayor who's going to be given loads of powers. And we're not sure how he's going to be held to account. Is there going to be any effective method to do that at all? That's completely unspecified at the moment."

Mark Hood believes that the 500,000 minimum population for each new unitary authority is too high. He says: "Democracy is becoming more remote from people."

He also says there should have been a referendum to decide on whether the people of Kent wanted a mayor.

Mark Hood hopes that there will be more support for a petition calling for Tonbridge to form a Town Council.

He believes "it's absolutely crucial" for Tonbridge to have a Town Council to represent residents when the new West Kent Authority is likely to be based far way, maybe in Maidstone.

You can hear more of Mark Hood's views in this audio: