Local authority reform 'a nettle to grasp'

Local authority reform is a nettle which needs to be grasped before the next round of council elections across the Island.

That view from the vice chair of Braddan commissioners Margaret Hodge, speaking in a debate on Sunday Opinion (14 Sept).

A House of Keys general election and Island-wide elections to local authorities are to be held in 2016.

Suggestions have been made for a four-plus-one model for local government.

This would see the existing 24 town, village and parish authorities re-grouped to run services in the north, south, east and west, along with Douglas Borough Council for the capital.

Since the economic squeeze, responsibility for a number of services have been passed to the local authorities.

Mrs Hodge says at present there's little certainty as to the future: