AN international expert in public service reform has backed recommendations to extend Cork city’s boundary rather than impose a full merger of Cork City Council and Cork County Council.
Professor Tony Bovaird, said there was a better case for extending the city boundary as opposed to merging both local authorities into one ‘super council’ for Cork.
Last year, a local government review group, chaired by businessman Alf Smiddy, produced a report on the controversial boundary issue. The review group was split in its opinion, with a majority report recommending a merger of the two councils within four years, and a minority report calling for the retention of the two councils and a significant city boundary extension. The issue blew up into a political war of words and the Smiddy Report was ultimately shelved.
However, it has now emerged that UCC commissioned international governance expert, Tony Bovaird, late last year, to review the two Smiddy reports.
Prof Bovaird, an Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham, is the director of Governance International, a not-for-profit company based in the UK, which examines and advises on public governance and public service reform.
He has provided consultancy services to the OECD, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the UK Cabinet Office, the Welsh and Scottish governments, and to regional governments and local authorities in Europe and around the world.
Prof Bovaird said the minority report’s argument that cities drive regions; that cities must have capacity to make decisions on finance, investment, planning and economic development; and that an independent city is important to secure maximum investment in urban economic development and infrastructure, is more convincing.
Professor Bovaird’s report comes as a new four-person expert advisory group, appointed by Minister Simon Coveney, begins reviewing the Smiddy reports in an effort to break the impasse.
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