Tuesday, 6th May, 2014
Stan by his convictions
Also up for discussion at last week’s extraordinary meeting was Cllr. Viv Stoddart’s bid to transfer specific decision-making powers relating to schools and education back to full council.
She wanted to change the process so that the final say on school reorganisations (closures, amalgamations etc.) in future will be made by all sixty councillors in the council chamber, rather than the cabinet made up of just the leader and eight of his hand-selected chums who are hardly renowned for expressing opposing views or engaging in intense debate.
The same changes which give back more power to backbenchers were recently approved in both neighbouring authorities, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, so it came as little surprise that Cllr. Stoddart easily got her proposal voted through with full support from all opposition councillors, and, ultimately, most from the ruling group.
Having sounded caution early on in the debate, towards the tail end and with little prospect of overturning the popular proposal, Cllr. Jamie Adams said he would actually be giving it his support.
Cllr. Adams’ support was through gritted teeth, however, and couched in terms of concern, terms which don’t appear to have gone unnoticed by two of his party members.
The relative confusion of processing mixed messages from their leader appears to have got the better of Cllrs. John Allen-Mirehouse and Daphne Bush, as they were the only two who voted to refuse all councillors being given the final say on school reorganisations.
A look at the alphabetical voting list proves interesting as their surnames place them early on in the vote call-out – the second and third of ruling party councillors, the first being Cllr. Adams.
They were joined in their refusal to support by abstentions from cabinet members Cllrs. Sue Perkins, David Pugh and Ken Rowlands, and from Cllr. David Rees, all of the ruling party.
The most bizarre contribution came from former maths schoolmaster Cllr. Stan Hudson, who told the chamber he had “been involved in education in Pembrokeshire for fifty years.” [At 28 minutes into the webcast.]
Reading his pre-scripted speech, Cllr. Hudson who is the chair of governors at Sir Thomas Picton School, said:
“I regard this notice of motion as a retrograde step. I have no special wish to be one of the sixty county councillors trying to micro-manage the education service in the county. We have to be more far-sighted than this notice of motion suggests.
I feel if passed, this notice of motion will undermine the authority of our professional officers and put the future of our children in the hands of the weekly whims of sixty county councillors.”
So it came as a bombshell when, minutes later at crunch time, Cllr. Hudson actually voted in support of this undermining and retrograde step.
Weekly whims, indeed!
❏Coming soon to jacobwilliams.com:
Did Cllr. Huw George mislead councillors during a full council debate?
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Under the auspices of this Council, education standards in the county have dropped to an all time low. Radical changes in policy are required, heads must roll and responsibility needs to be taken by somebody.
Tasker Milward school is grossly under performing, letting down its pupils shamelessly. The head teacher has now stepped down, which is the first step, but a clear plan for improvement needs to implemented now.
Stan Hudson just reinforces the views held by most IPPG/Tory members that the direction of travel of the council is best left to officers.
Given the paucity of intellect or ambition on their respective benches, what, may we ask, does he think is his role as an elected member in return for his £13,000 allowance?
Is it a mere enhancement to his pension or should he be contributing to the debate on the most efficient use of the one third of a billion pounds that the council spends each year?
There are a number of these plans/strategies that, unless specifically required to be a function of the council, fall to be a matter for cabinet, unless the council determines that it should be a matter for full council.
As our council has never been given the option by officers, they have no idea what plans/strategies could be matters reserved for the Council to decide.
Clearly, the council’s leadership, Cabinet and senior officers, do not think that the majority of councillors are up to the job.
One of the plans left to Cabinet, the Asset Management Plan, was promptly delegated to officers, as befits the Leader’s policy of preferring to focus on outcomes rather than process. It does not even receive reports of what officers have been up to, how well the Plan shapes up or what the outcomes have been.
Jacob – nice observation on the antics of Cllr. Stan Hudson. How can a person say one thing and then contradict himself by voting another? Typical Tory!
I see Cllr. Simon Hancock again failed to show up for a meeting but always seems to be available for a WT photoshoot. Perhaps he will turn up at the full council meeting this week?
Where can I find the agenda for tomorrow and Friday’s meeting? On PCC’s site it still tells you that the contact is Roy Griffiths who retired last year!
The agenda for tomorrow’s meeting is here:
http://mgenglish.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=285&MId=3030&Ver=4&LLL=0
and Friday’s AGM is here:
http://mgenglish.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=394&MId=3031&Ver=4&LLL=0
Oh dear. Does this mean captain Ken may have to listen to somebody other than himself. That would be a first!
The person who altered the minutes at PCC has been identified on the front page of the Pembrokeshire Herald. Well done Herald, WT beaten again for the things that are topical in Pembrokeshire.
In my business if you alter or you manipulate company documentation this is deemed as gross misconduct and in the worst case dismissal, in local authority the punishment is a written warning according to the article in the Pembrokeshire Herald.
However the identity of the senior officer who benefited alongside BPJ on the pension fiasco remains anonymous.