Tag Archives: exeter

Lib Dem by-election winner “angry” at Exeter unitary ruling

By Helen Duffett | Mon 12th July 2010 - 4:45 pm

It was recently announced that 26 councillors in Exeter and Norwich have lost their seats following a High Court decision over unitary status.

As the BBC reported:

Mr Justice Ouseley last month quashed a Labour government decision to allow the cities to take over county council powers and now members must stand down.

Each council lost 13 councillors and was ordered to pay legal costs.

The 26 councillors were due to stand for re-election in May but had been granted extensions in office as part of provisional arrangements for unitary status.

The judge has now ruled the by-elections must take place to maintain legality.

Leader of Exeter Council, Adrian Fullam (Liberal Democrat) said:

Posted in Council by-elections and News | Also tagged adrian fullam and tim payne | 11 Comments

As you were…three new unitaries cancelled

By Iain Roberts | Wed 26th May 2010 - 10:15 pm

Labour’s plan to replace the existing councils in Exeter, Norwich and Suffolk with new unitary authorities has been cancelled by the coalition government.

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles today announced that the existing local government structures would remain.

The argument for the decision seems to be that the move to unitaries didn’t have the support of the local populations, two didn’t have the support of the independent boundaries commission and they were going to cause a lot of hassle for very little savings.

The real meat on this story looks to be down in note 4 to …

Posted in Local government | Also tagged eric pickles, norwich and suffolk | 10 Comments