What has council done to help us?

COUNCILLORS in Dinnington were asked to consider the idea of leaving the Rotherham borough after claims the area was being treated unfairly.

At Dinnington Town Council’s annual meeting on Monday, resident Lewis Sadler asked parishioners and councillors to record a vote on the town’s relationship with Rotherham Borough Council.

He asked if the link was a “healthy” one or if Dinnington should “look to govern itself or join an alternative neighbouring authority”.

Mr Sadler, who said teaming up with neighbouring areas like Anston could be investigated, said: “We’ve not always been part of the Rotherham borough, we used to be in the Kiveton district.

“I think if we left we could have an overlying authority that was clued up to rural areas, or join the Bassetlaw district or bring back the Kiveton Rural District.

“We have to look at what we get from RMBC and the amount of things they have cut back in the last few years.

“Every time we have a consultation we say we don’t want to lose something and it gets taken away. We’re treated as a principal town in terms of houses, but in terms of resources it gets taken away.”

One resident replied: “It’s a very big decision, the knock-on effect for schools and other things.

“We can’t be expected to make a decision now, it’s a massive consideration.”

Fellow resident Paul Martin said: “We would need more information on the alternatives.”

Another resident, David Smith, said he was against RMBC and the authority always looked to Dinnington when it needed to make savings, while Barry Thomas added the town often got “left behind”.

He added: “It does get neglected and that needs to be addressed.

“What the option would be would be up for discussion, but you can’t guarantee if you moved in with another it would be better.”

Cllr Simon Tweed said to go back to being part of a rural authority would be a backward step and Bassetlaw Borough Council was suffering similar budget cuts to Rotherham.

The 20 residents and 11 councillors took a vote on if they were happy with RMBC, with a total of 20 saying they were not happy and none admitting they were happy with Dinnington’s relationship with the borough council.

Twelve voted to maintain the status quo, while eight supported a move to another set-up.