Following the issue of the Government's 2006 white paper Strong and Prosperous Communities a number of local authorities submitted proposals to change to unitary authorites. One of these was Durham which had 7 District Councils.
In 2007 the County Council's submission was accepted by the Government despite a local referendum in which the majority of responders voted against the proposal.
Firstly: why were the wishes of the local community ignored?
Secondly: The key point within the County Council's submission was the savings that would result and the main contributor to these proosed savings was the reduction in the number of councillors first to 126 and then in April 2009 to 90.
What are the minister's thoughts about:-
1) Durham's unelected chief executive being on a salary greater than the Prime Minister.
2) Council tax for 2009-10 in 6 of the 7 former District's  being increased by more than the rate of inflation.
3) The councillors recently voting without consultation or referal to CLG, or any other party(ies), NOT to reduce the number of councillors to 90 but to keep the number at 126 negating much of the savings, and therefore the whole point, of moving to a Unitary Authority.