Drive to slash pointless rules

FACED WITH 400,000 TEXTS OF LOCAL COUNCIL RULES, THE GOVERNMENT IS AIMING TO IDENTIFY AND CUT THE MOST ‘ABSURD’ FACED with ever-expanding bureaucracy in local councils, the government has

created a team tasked with slashing “absurd” and unnecessary rules and regulations. It is estimated that there are 400,000 texts giving rules on running of councils and also affecting others

such as local businesses which work with them. They include such minutiae as the 2011 “sausage order”, which goes into exhaustive detail on nutritional make-up of school meals, including

the fact that _maternelle_ children are allowed one 50g sausage (uncooked weight), _élementaire_ two, and _collège_ or _lycée_ pupils two to three. Local sporting facilities are also

renowned for the number of rules they must conform to – for example the mairie of Mans has been told it can no longer host the top division of regional football matches because suitable

venues need two eight square metre dressing rooms for the referees, whereas theirs measure nine and seven. Former budget minister Alain Lambert, president of the Orne departmental council,

and Le Mans mayor Jean-Claude Boulard are heading a team which has been told to come up with a suggested list of regulatory texts to be axed, by March 15. They have already set their sights

on the “sausage order”. “If we manage it, it will create a new will to tackle the problem,” Mr Boulard said. In the 2012-13 World Economic Forum’s classifications France was placed 126 out

of 144 for administrative complexity. Photo:grangehillschool/YouTube