Shropshire Star comment: Can moving know-how really work?
In this age of austerity, public services are on the front line.
Our social care service is creaking at the seams, the NHS is facing chaos and confusion, the justice system faces continued uncertainty and leisure amenities are at risk.
The emergency services are not immune from cutbacks and it is understandable that efficiencies should be made. And yet many will feel uncomfortable at the spectre of our police services being run by staff some 50 miles away, in Worcester.
The local knowledge that will be lost when 12 members of staff leave the Battlefield control room, at Shrewsbury, will not be replaced – in its entirety at least.
Other emergency services have gone down a similar route and it would be hard to find an advocate who truly believes that things are improved when services are delivered centrally, away from the patch.
Our way of life is changing. Local services for local people was once a basic way of life. People felt safer and more comfortable knowing that people with a detailed knowledge of the area were at hand. They were reassured by the fact that people with insight were making decisions and were not at risk of making the mistakes of those unfamiliar with the terrain.
That experience and know-how is in danger of being lost in pursuit of progress. No more will people in Shrewsbury provide that extra one per cent by using their own individual skill or expertise. Instead, people who are well-trained but less knowledgeable will be at the controls. There are no reasons to be either cheerful or inspired by the prospect.
Our public services face an enormously difficult task. All too often, they are underfunded and so services that are delivered no longer meet the reasonable expectations of tax payers who are footing the bill. We live in an era of making do, of wishing for the best but expecting a little less.
The principle of looking to run services as efficiently as possible is supported but there are concerns that the process could lead to difficulties while the changes bed in. The fear is that delays that could have dire consequences. It is also common sense that those answering calls have a detailed knowledge of the region. It would be wrong for the public to pay the highest price by suffering failures when things go wrong. Police say the new service will be “more effective and efficient”. We will be watching.
