Tag: Localism Bill

Standards Committee 29/9/2011 Part 3

Bill Norman said he accepted the timescales were unacceptable, however the scale of resources that Legal & Member Services had been modest. He had come from the authority of Torbay in Devon. Torbay had half the population of Wirral, but more solicitors. This was a part explanation, but it didn’t justify the delay. The revised … Continue reading “Standards Committee 29/9/2011 Part 3”

Bill Norman said he accepted the timescales were unacceptable, however the scale of resources that Legal & Member Services had been modest. He had come from the authority of Torbay in Devon. Torbay had half the population of Wirral, but more solicitors. This was a part explanation, but it didn’t justify the delay. The revised protocol (if endorsed) detailed timescales. They couldn’t undo the past, but he will do better and could be held to account to the timescales. He referred to the Localism Bill and changes to future changes to the standards regime. He thought it was best to suggest formal performance targets. There would then be standards of performance.

Cllr Les Rowlands mentioned the Standards Board for England.

Somebody arrived and started talking to Bill Norman.

Cllr Les Rowlands said it was “not a good excuse” that they had “not enough staff”. He asked why there hadn’t been a report to Standards Committee on this and why he had not said it in the past. He said they should stick to the times even if they haven’t got enough staff. He agreed with Cllr Chris Blakeley that it was appalling and the money that had been spent on this. He used the word failure and said it was a “horrendous amount of money”. He said it left a bad taste and they were supposed to be in the 21st century. He said they had been a long, long time trying to tackle this and said it was a failing of Bill Norman.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 8 – speech (Cllr Stuart Kelly) on leader motion/amendment

Cllr Stuart Kelly said he had heard what the Conservatives were saying. However it was frankly not enough to address and debate, when this should’ve been done in the closing weeks of the local election campaign. The points that had been made should’ve been put to the people. However the people had spoken. He thanked Cllr Ian Lewis for not mentioning him. Cllr Dave Mitchell also thanked him too. Cllr Kelly said that people vote for a raft of reasons. He said it was said many people voted for reasons that were not linked to success or otherwise but that was the way democracy was. The voters however knew best.

However, there were two critical things, the number of votes and the number of seats commanded. If they [Labour] had slightly more seats then they would have the critical seats needed for the formula. On both counts the Labour Party was the party with the most votes and seats. Wirral Council had invited the public to tell us and they had said No to AV and that they prefer FPTP. He said they must respect this. He referred to the Localism Bill and pointed out the opportunity to reconsider local government structure. He said a “strong leader [model]” was not for us and doesn’t work with a balanced Council. There was the option to reform the committee system to involve more councillors in the issues that had all-party support. He said he had not been in the Cabinet very long, but recognised its achievements and the way forward.

Standards Committee – 27th January 2011 – Part 1

The agenda and reports for last night’s Standards Committee can be viewed by following the link.

Apologies in advance if I’ve misquoted anyone, but with no microphones it was hard to tell what some of the speakers were saying as there were side conversations going on.

The Chair started off by welcoming everyone and introducing Jane Corrin, the Council’s Freedom of Information Act Manager. Cllr Jones declared an interest in item 5 as he had received a FOIA response. The minutes of the last meeting were agreed.

A council officer introduced item 3 and said the committee would be given an update on any substantial changes but as the bill was going through Parliament it may change. Cllr Williams asked if the Standards Committee would be given updates. Cllr Bridson asked if the requirement on Wirral Council to have a Standards Committee would be abolished.

The officer answered that updates could be circulated by email rather than in a report which Cllr Jones agreed was easier.