UNELECTED bureaucrats responsible for spending millions of pounds in the Westcountry will be hauled before councillors to explain their actions, under plans unveiled by the Government.

Police chiefs and bosses from health trusts, Jobcentres and the Environment Agency will be subject to public hearings.

Utilities companies which repeatedly dig up the region's roads and bus and train companies will also be forced to face the wrath of local people.

Ministers last night hailed the move as part of the biggest shake-up of local government for a generation.

Communities Secretary John Denham told the Western Morning News: "In an area like the Westcountry, we need, at a local level, scrutiny from the bottom up.

"If services are not up to the mark or not delivering for them, local people will be able to hold them to account."

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A board of councillors on every local authority would be able to carry out inquiries into the way all local services are run in their area, under plans set out in a new consultation.

As well as forcing officials to defend their performance, the reports could also recommend switching millions of pounds in funding between public bodies to tackle local problems. While not binding, ministers claim the reports would be "difficult to ignore".

"Local council scrutiny is a lion that hasn't roared," said Mr Denham.

"If you want to look at the way a bus network operates in a local area, how things are prioritised, late-night services, how accessible they are to people with disabilities – there could be a range of issues you want people running public services to come forward and be challenged over. We need to do this in a way that is sensible. We need to be able to make sure we focus on local services but the idea is that people would have a duty to respond."

More bodies would be subject to a "duty to co-operate" with residents able to approach their local councillor to take up their cause, regardless of who was responsible. "People want to feel that when they are electing a local councillor, they are electing somebody who can get back to them about pretty much any aspect of local service public funding in their area."

Mr Denham insisted that in the long-term, the plan would help secure "real value for money" for taxpayers.

"One of the many challenges we face is making the best use of every single penny that goes into an area, not just how a single service operates but how they all work together," he said.

Ministers claim that nationwide, more than £100 billion of public money is spent on key local public services each year, but sits outside elected councillors' control.

However, Mr Denham insisted his new plan for councils would not duplicate the beleaguered South West regional select committee of MPs.

The body was set-up by Commons Leader Harriet Harman to take on the "regional Masters of the Universe" on regional quangos and public bodies.

Both the Tories and Liberal Democrats have boycotted the committee in a row over it being Labour-dominated.