Blue Power or the fizzling out of the Tory Coup? 29 March, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Rowe in News.Tags: Conservatives, Cornwall Council, Independents, Openness and Transparency
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There have been dark mutterings at County Hall recently. The Members’ Room has been awash with Tory talk of dissatisfaction with the Council’s Conservative-led Cabinet, the perceived dominance of the Chief Executive and the performance of the Leader overall.
Blue Power?
As an opposition councillor I have no influence over these matters and only a minimal wish to intrude into private grief. But – purely in the interests of openness and transparency, you understand – I feel it only fair to explain what’s been going on, at least as I understand it.
As the BBC’s Graham Smith has reported, a rump of Tory councillors (anywhere between 12 and 22 depending on who you gossip with) allegedly coalesced around Fiona Ferguson, backbench member for the Truro Trehaverne ward, with a view to delivering an ultimatum to the Leader about the gripes outlined above. Apparently they wanted two Tory Cabinet Members replaced and a distance placed between the Leader and the Chief Executive. A leadership challenge – that favourite Tory pastime – was threatened if their demands weren’t met.
Much was made among the Members’ Room gossips of the power they could wield behind closed doors if they chose to, but at County Hall today there were only subdued grumblings. Either the Leader went in all guns blazing and won over the doubters or (which is probably more likely) the conspirators suddenly realised that the Council’s constitution and the last government’s ‘Strong Leader Model’ mean there isn’t a great deal they can do if he digs his heels in.
So where does this leave them? Well, given that this was something of a hot topic for many members of staff at County Hall this morning, it’s unlikely to have strengthened a Cabinet which is starting to look as though it is fraying at the edges. What seems to have started as a serious threat now appears to have fizzled into a mere shot across the bows for the Leader and the Cabinet. Soothing noises may have been made to the ‘revolting’ Tory peasants but this doesn’t really look like it’s done either side any favours, with a weakened leadership and a rump of malcontent backbenchers eyeing each other suspiciously at every difficult juncture from here on.
And what must the Independents, the junior partners in the ruling coalition, make of all this? Did anyone ask them what they think? The administration only govern with the support of this group of councillors, a fact they should forget at their peril. It was noticeable at Full Council today that, after months of near total loyalty, Independent councillors are finally starting to speak out in public when they don’t agree with the direction the Cabinet is steering them in. If they withdraw their support all the Tory leadership challenges in the world will be almost totally irrelevant.
The Alternative Vote and Electronic Voting Machines 29 March, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Rowe in News.Tags: Alternative Vote, Conservatives, Cornwall Council
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At today’s Full Cornwall Council I tabled a question to Jim Currie, the Cabinet Member for Resources, which asked him to confirm the Electoral Commission view that, should there be a move to the Alternative Vote after the referendum in May, there would be no need for electronic voting machines to manage elections. After a fashion Jim did confirm that this was the case – there will be no additional expenditure on the electoral process if the UK decides to move towards a fairer system of voting in May.
Perhaps George Eustice and the ‘No to AV’ camp should listen to Jim. Their so far wholly negative campaign to keep the archaic First Past The Post system seems to rely on spreading unfounded scare stories and claiming that a switch to a fairer system will involve expenditure of £250m on voting machines. I’ve explained elsewhere why I think AV would be a vast improvement on FPTP, but I do really think it’s about time the No camp started to put forward some genuine, positive arguments. Unless, of course, they don’t have any…
Why no debate about a holiday on St Piran’s Day? 29 March, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Rowe in News.Tags: Cornwall Council
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I’m a big fan of Pat Harvey, the Chairman of Cornwall Council. I imagine it is extremely difficult to keep 123 councillors in order, but she carries the job off with humour and no small amount of style. Having said that, I was left slightly bemused by her decision today not to allow a debate on a seemingly straightforward motion I had seconded on a public holiday to be held on St Piran’s Day:
Cornwall Council notes the recent government white paper on changing bank holidays and instructs the chief executive to respond that any change in Cornwall should lead to the creation of a public holiday on St Piran’s Day to reflect our unique cultural heritage.
The official reason for the referral to another committee was that there were ‘resource implications’ but I’m still scratching my head as to what those might be. Put simply, the government has indicated that it wants to move one of the May Bank Holidays and Ann Kerridge (the proposer of the motion) and I were suggesting that, in Cornwall, it should be St Piran’s Day. The government would of course be perfectly free to reject our request if they chose, but what exactly is the ‘resource implication’ of asking the question – beyond, as my colleague Alex Folkes pointed out, the cost of a stamp?
Council almost guarantees Higher Trenant’s future 29 March, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Rowe in Local Matters.Tags: Cornwall Council, Egloshayle, Wadebridge
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During Cabinet reports at today’s full meeting of Cornwall Council I asked Jim Currie, the portfolio holder in charge of property, whether he was able to give a cast-iron guarantee that the Council’s commitment to ‘a presence in Wadebridge’ meant that the future of Higher Trenant was secure. Unsurprisingly he couldn’t give me an absolute, 100% promise (and I wouldn’t expect him to give such a hostage to fortune) but he came as close as he could to giving assurances that the offices are safe.
It does seem that the Council, after the ill-judged attempt at disposal last year, have now accepted that the offices at Higher Trenant are important to the community and the Council itself. It would be churlish not to welcome that change of position but – rest assured – should things alter again I won’t be the only one making a fuss.
Webcasting to continue until 2013 at least 29 March, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Rowe in News.Tags: Cornwall Council, Openness and Transparency
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Cornwall Council took the almost unanimous decision to continue with the webcasting of meetings for the remainder of this elected term. The decision taken at today’s Full Council also makes provision for other meetings – such as contentious Strategic Planning Committee meetings – to be webcast for the benefit of those who may not be able to attend in person.
This is good news for the Council’s oft-derided aim of openness and transparency and, as I was happy to tell the meeting today, is in no small part due to the valuable support of the Leader of the Council. I don’t often agree with him but he has given his support to me, Andrew Wallis, Steve Double, Andrew Long and others as we have tried to push this issue forward.
The technology is still new to us and there is much more for us to learn, but I believe we will soon arrive at a point when it will be inconceivable that decisions about the use of the public purse could be taken without giving the paying public the right to view proceedings.
Is Higher Trenant’s future secure? 17 March, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Rowe in Local Matters, News.Tags: Conservatives, Cornwall Council, Egloshayle, Finances, Local Services, North Cornwall, Wadebridge
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Although Cornwall Council’s Cabinet must have hoped this question had been put to bed some months ago, rumours have continually swirled around concerning the future of the authority’s offices at Higher Trenant on the outskirts of Wadebridge. Many people’s assumption was always that any successful supermarket applicant for the land surrounding the offices would eventually seek to acquire the surviving buildings to form part of a future expansion. Indeed, the Cabinet had made their original plans clear by attempting to dispose of the entire site in early 2010.
On that occasion local campaigners won the day and the Tory-led administration was forced to back down. The offices survived and only the surrounding land was declared ‘surplus to requirements’. The Council, as part of their ‘Office Accommodation Vision’, then reappraised Higher Trenant and decided that a staff presence in Wadebridge was probably a good idea after all.
It’s therefore good to see that the Leader has gone on the record to reaffirm his commitment to the Council’s role as a significant local employer. According to a Cornwall Council press release:
Mr Robertson… stated categorically that the Council had no plans to withdraw its presence from the towns of St Austell, Liskeard, Wadebridge and Penzance. ‘There have been rumours that the Council is intending to pull out of these areas and I want to take this opportunity to put the record straight’ he told the [Cabinet] meeting. ‘Such rumours have a damaging impact on the morale of staff working in these towns and I would now call on local members to give this message to both staff and their local communities’.
Of course the phrase “we have no plans” is always a dubious one, and the Leader didn’t mention Higher Trenant by name, but let’s hope this really is a sign of Cornwall Council’s commitment to Wadebridge and the surrounding area at a time when more and more people are raising concerns about the administration’s perceived bias towards the west and middle of Cornwall.
Higher Trenant is a significant base of employment for the area – let’s hope it stays that way.
Leader’s message to Members 11 March, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Rowe in News.Tags: Conservatives, Consultants, Cornwall Council, Finances
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The following tumbled into my Inbox a short while ago. As the Leader requests I’m passing his thoughts on, although he does seem a touch grumpy today…
Alec Robertson – Leader message to Members, Friday 11th March
Dear Colleagues
Following a number of negative articles about the Council which have appeared in the local news over the past few days, I wanted to take the opportunity to put the record straight by giving you the facts behind the headlines.
The article in last week’s West Briton about the Plymouth World Cup bid appears to suggest that the Council’s financial support had been deliberately kept a secret and was only revealed as the result of a Freedom of Information request.
This is not true. The Council’s decision to back the bid by becoming part of the consortium leading the process was a matter of public record. I actually went to the formal launch of the bid in August 2009 where I was photographed with the Leader of Plymouth City Council and other members of the consortium.
The decision to provide funding has been criticised by some as a waste of money. I totally disagree with this. I said at the time that success would bring significant economic benefits– a view which was shared by both Torbay Council and Devon County Council, both of which pledged £50,000 to support the bid. I stand by this statement and would do the same again in similar circumstances.
If we want to put Cornwall on the map and become a major player on the national and international stage we need to be brave and accept that we may need to take risks. I accept that £50,000 is a lot of money in the current financial climate but the facts are that winning the bid would have helped generate almost £300 million for the economy of Devon and Cornwall.
We have also been criticised in some newspapers for spending money on employing consultants and agency staff. Not only does the high profile headline “£6 m on council agency staff” fail, yet again, to accurately reflect the facts, it also implies that employing consultants and agency staff is always a waste of money.
All too often the media use the term “consultant” in a negative way to suggest we are employing vast numbers of highly paid people in suits who sit around telling us what we already know. This is not the case. These are the people who are helping us to design and build bridges and roads, giving us specialist legal advice or working with staff on multi million pound regeneration projects such as Heartlands. Using these people to provide support on individual projects is not only cheaper than employing staff full time, it enables us to make use of specialist expertise as and when required.
It is a similar case with agency workers – the media suggest that it costs more to bring in agency staff and is, therefore, a waste of money. In fact the opposite is true – using agency staff enables us to cope with increased workload in specific areas – such as the recent backlog of benefits applications or to cover sickness or vacant posts. Using agency staff on a short term basis gives us the flexibility to address staffing issues on a short term basis and avoid the added costs of redundancy or redeployment when a project is finished.
The facts are that we have not wasted £6 million on employing agency staff. We actually spent £2.46 million on agency workers in December and January. The majority of revenue and benefits staff will be gone by the end of March, and we are continuing to reduce agency staff in other areas.
I recognise that the media has a role to play and there will inevitably be more negative stories as the cuts we have been forced to make in our budget are implemented over the coming weeks and months.
I will do my best to provide you with the facts behind the stories and would hope that as ambassadors for the council you will ensure that you share this information with your local communities.
With best wishes
Alec Robertson CC
LeaderCornwall Council
leader@cornwall.gov.uk
An afternoon with the CUC Journos 3 March, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Rowe in News.Tags: Cornwall Council, Education, Independents, Labour, Lib Dems
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A little over a year ago I was invited to attend the CUC campus at Tremough for a question and answer session with the Multimedia Broadcast Journalism MA students (I blogged about it here). At the time I was impressed by the standard of questioning and the professional approach of our interrogators and reflected that the future was in good shape.
This afternoon, along with my Labour Cornwall Council colleague Jude Robinson, I went back for a second sitting with this year’s intake. Once again the questions were probing, occasionally blunt and always challenging as we covered a range of topics from Supporting People through to the AV referendum via potholes and (inevitably) student tuition fees. I’m happy to note that, under the excellent leadership of CUC’s Charlotte Barry, the high standard is being maintained and there is another generation of bright journalists being nurtured at Cornwall’s own centre of excellence.
We had hoped to be joined by our Independent colleague Andrew Wallis but unfortunately he was tied up at County Hall with the Environment & Economy Committee’s call-in of the Council Cabinet’s parking charge hike. If I’m lucky enough to be invited again next year I hope he’ll be able to join us.
A marathon run for FLEET 1 March, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Rowe in News.Tags: St Issey
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A quick plug for my friend Faye Pearn, who is currently undergoing the pain required to prepare for the London Marathon. Like most participants, she’s doing the run for charity (FLEET, the Frontline Emergency Equipment Trust) and I’m sure all donations would be gratefully received.
St Issey girl Faye says: “It has always been an ambition of mine to complete the Marathon, and what better way to do it than by raising money for such a good cause?”
You can make a donation via her ‘Just Giving’ page by following this link: http://www.justgiving.com/faye-pearn. (By the way, Faye isn’t in the picture above…)
