BUSY, BUSY CABINET

Went along to the Cabinet tonight, which must have been the busiest of this administration. A two and a half hour meeting that dealt with:

1. Council performance data - we learnt that the Council is looking into the possibility of a 'roof tax' for the 10,000 new house builds over the next 20 years (could raise £200m or £10m per year for infrastructure and such like - sounds good, no imperative, to me); I was assured that the Council hasn't further tightened the already stringent rules for homeless acceptances, despite a recent sharp drop.

2. An IW Fairtrade Strategy was agreed, thanks to Labour's original initiative last June.

3. Our public conveniences are going to be rationalised and made more attractive!

4. The Council is setting up an Improvement Board chaired by the Chief Exec of Northants. I secured a commitment to transparency with the publication of action points from its meetings.

5. The Education privatisation was confirmed and extended for the next year, with a guarantee made that there will be an 'exit strategy' if it does not work out as planned. I secured promises of resources into schools for pupil data analysis - vital to an standards improvement agenda.

6. A policy commission paper on public drinking was approved. I welcomed this, but stressed that the sellers of booze to underage people need to be clamped down upon, as well as licensed premises that encourage irresponsible drinking. I also stressed that young people should not be demonised, as it is a small minority that cause problems in town centres, etc.

7. A policy commission paper on decriminalising parking was approved. I welcome this too now that it will be implemented as an in-house operation .

8. A much needed new Special Educational Needs Strategy was approved. I secured a Member's briefing on this, given the implications for local councillors.

This was a meeting which saw the Tories delivering on chunks of their agenda, whether you agree with it or not. Very focussed and disciplined, but with room for an opposition member to make contributions. Once again only Labour was represented at the meeting - through me.

There was much suggestion from the Council Leader during the meeting that I am the opposition member that is most interested, able and strong enough to be the chair of a re-invigorated Scrutiny Committee - but as my readers will know by now this will not happen as long as the other opposition group members - LibDems and Independents - rest on their self-importance rather than seriously challenging this Tory administration