Plus ça change
The first envelope
BACK in mid-December, there was an extra borough council meeting. By tradition, these are called “extraordinary meetings” and this one was aptly named. But not for reasons that all the participants would necessarily approve of.
Renewed leader – ship ahead
Having done away with their previous leader, Conservatives had elected a new one in November.
And you might think that the new leader would automatically become the leader of the Borough Council, however that’d be overlooking something.
Namely, the minor technicality in the council’s constitution that says the borough leader has to be elected at a full council meeting.
But there’s still a Tory majority, so it’s a foregone conclusion, isn’t it?
Possibly not.
If there were sufficient ‘back-bench dissidents’ added to the elected opposition, this could be enough to prevent the ruling group just ‘rubber-stamping’ things.
Or if the opposition numbers increase, as the 2019 and 2020 local elections may yet show.
But enough of this “strong and stable Government” stuff.
Meet the new boss
Bear in mind this is Wokingham, not Westminster, so the chances of an historic defeat on a matter of leadership control would be, well, evolutionary to say the least.
And thus it was that the Council elected Julian McGhee Sumner as the new leader and he duly gave his introductory speech.
Being highly selective in hearing, and even more so in believing, what follows is an indication as to how his speech came across.
His opening was clear enough: “Every Councillor in this chamber tonight sits here with one common objective, to represent our residents”.
What?
Represent residents??
We’re not here for that are we???
He continued: “Over the past few weeks I have spoken to a number of our residents … they have highlighted [communications, management, priorities, grass cutting, potholes, rubbish collection] as less than adequate. It is clear that mistakes have been made, for which I apologise …”
Errr … mistakes … apologies … for heaven’s sake, we’re only on the second paragraph, this is radical.
It wouldn’t be surprising from a newly elected Liberal Democrat or Labour leader, but from a Conservative leader it’s, well, extraordinary.
And extraordinarily welcome too.
The second envelope
The next paragraph of his speech was also extraordinary.
“Shortly, each Executive Member will be set five key targets that impact on our residents in order to improve upon the services we offer. Each Executive Member will be aligned to a Director, so it will be abundantly clear to all our residents who is responsible for which area of Council policy.”
Cripes – reorganisation too. This isn’t extraordinary, it’s fighting talk.
Politicians responsible for what gets done? Anyone would think that the dog is trying to wag the tail.
Also that the tail needs a good wagging.
Which, given the level of secrecy, infighting, and ineptitude described in these commentaries since Spring 2015, is way beyond extraordinary.
There may be icebergs ahead
“I want us to be a Council which listens to our residents, which tries to find solutions to problems and which residents can have trust in.
“All too often, we forget why we are here and that must change.”
And that was only the fourth paragraph.
By the end of the speech we discovered that the dinosaur’s gravy train was being “single tracked” – with special responsibility allowances being limited to one each. (Steady on folks, this is 2019 Wokingham, not 1919 Moscow).
We were told the threat of Negative RSG had gone (it hasn’t, but this is only Act 1, Scene 1); that a previous Commissar in charge of Finance was being reappointed; that Wokingham Borough Council would be getting a new CEO; that the poisoned chalice of Highways was being given to Cllr Jorgensen (P), while Cllr Jorgensen (N) would be returning to the backbench; lastly that the grass would be growing under Cllr Halsall’s feet – or not – in which case it would be feat, not feet.
Reading between the lines, it was clear that a number of members who have talked about, argued about, nay shouted about certain topics were getting their just desserts – an opportunity to make a difference.
And it won’t surprise you to learn that the
Executive Member for Regeneration remains unchanged.
At least until mutters of overspending, underdelivery, safety deficits or general confusion have been resolved to the electorate’s satisfaction.
And what about the vegetables?
Discussion continued until it reached a Liberal Democrat motion to have the council publish a report on all the financial details of the various Regeneration projects by the end of December 2018.
Huh? Do my ears deceive me??
Remove all the secrecy and obfuscation that’s gone on in contravention of the spirit if not the words of clause 9 of schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972???
Surely not.
Luckily, a “Tory initiative” to amend the motion was put forward and debated, whereupon it became clear that we wouldn’t be learning much about WBC’s prudent fiscal conduct, timely project management, or superb quality control – any time soon.
Phew, there’ll still be plenty to write about.
And at least the new leader’s talk of change was encouraging, even if the positive reaction didn’t quite make it to the end of the meeting (or this commentary).