“IS it really going to happen?”
The question came pinging at me from four for five colleagues last week after the Conservatives unveiled their plan to split Kirklees in two.
The urgency of their enquiries suggested that my workmates were eager to see the demise of the 38-year-old local authority.
Wow, I thought to myself, I can’t remember the last time the Examiner newsroom was so buzzing about a local government story.
To my colleagues’ disappointment, my answer was “No, I don’t think it will happen.”
The chief obstacle to split is the fact that it’s opposed by Labour and the Lib Dems who between them hold 41 of the 69 seats on Kirklees.
I happened to bump into one of these 41 councillors on New Street last week. Within seconds Clr Peter McBride and I were in spirited debate about the merits of dividing Kirklees.
The Dalton Labour man is a former member of Huddersfield Borough Council (scrapped in 1974) and West Yorkshire County Council (binned in 1986). You can hardly blame him for not wanting a hat-trick of abolitions on his CV.
In fairness to him, he made some good points about why Kirklees should survive.
However, as I pointed out to Clr McBride, the people have long since turned against the council.
Standing in the busiest street in Huddersfield, I challenged him: “Stop one of these people, anyone you like, and ask them what they think about Dews-bury and Batley. Ask them if they ever go there.”
Wisely, he did not take me up on the offer.
Then on Monday came more evidence of why Kirklees Council should be binned.
I had phoned a PR woman in London to try to track down some local figures for a story I was working on.
“Could you send me the stats for Kirklees?” I asked.
“No problem,” she replied “I’ll send you the breakdown for all the Scottish councils.”
