Letter: Change at Belfast City Hall could bring real power to the people
A letter from Edward Ferrin:
Richard Needham – the former Northern Ireland minister of state responsible for several key initiatives which put hope into Belfast through its darkest days – has spoken previously of the opportunity Belfast has if a new, directly elected mayor of Belfast led its local government in a new, expanded local authority for the city and the region around it, like Lisburn, Newtownabbey and Bangor.
One of the arguments from opponents and critics of the current devolution settlement – particularly from integrationist unionists across the UK - has been that power devolved from Westminster to Holyrood, Cardiff Bay or Stormont has not really been a transaction of ‘power to the people.’
A ’Greater Belfast City and Region Authority’ could take powers from Stormont and place them into the hands of ‘the people’.
There are already too many local government authorities in Northern Ireland – a devolved authority for Belfast could reduce the total from eleven to seven if it merged the five eastern councils into one.
Richard Needham argued that a new directly elected Mayor of a Belfast City and Region Authority would be the ideal vehicle to devolve more powers from Stormont to Belfast City Hall.
A direct election for the role of mayor would bring an added oversight to the role which doesn’t exist in our current devolved government or local government – the power to elect/dismiss the head of the government every four or five years.
The big question is: what would the new local government authority do differently?
Regeneration powers is a start – something which has been at the top of every tongue in local government for years.
A new, larger, more accountable local government could be entrusted with expanded powers to deliver something that Stormont has often been lacking – good, transparent and accountable government – for an ever-expanding, globally-renowned Belfast.
A directly elected mayor would provide a continuity to government in the capital region whether Stormont is doing its job or not.
The people would also have someone directly elected to hold accountable if their local government services were not up to scratch – something which would be a first in political terms for Northern Ireland.
Belfast has often missed out on opportunities for further growth because of no devolved government – it is time to give the chance for local government to step up to the plate.
If a new directly elected mayor works for Belfast, who’s to say it couldn’t work elsewhere in Northern Ireland.
We must break away from the idea that a government at Stormont – often unaccountable to the people, lacking a collective drive to do things differently - is the most we can get from devolution in Northern Ireland.
Devolving powers from Stormont to expanded local government authorities with directly elected Mayors should be the natural step towards real ‘power to the people.’
Edward Ferrin, Belfast BT14