Last night was Cabinet with a room full of Tories and senior officers, one member of the public, and me from the 'opposition' on this Council. I'm afraid that I dragged the meeting out for them to nearly 80 minutes, but I know at least one Tory Cabinet member who appreciates me being there to liven things up a bit........
They made lots of decisions on:- the IW Act; funding for the new Cowes secondary school (they are already raiding the capital pot for £2.5m); creating an 'Education Forum'; assisting the Salvation Army to build a homeless hostel in Ryde (a good thing in my view); getting help to establish a 'Community Management & Ownership of Public Assets' policy (which could have implications for Pan); last year's Budget outturn ; and the communications contract with Westminster City Council (which has been reined in a bit after a rare scrutiny 'call-in'.
Many Cabinet members seemed far more interested in defending the Scrutiny Committee from my early criticisms about its 'tame' nature. The Leader going so far as to describe them as 'our good friends on the scrutiny committee'. I pointed out that this was something the committee had NEVER been called when I was Chair, and I was very pleased that it wasn't. He rather proved my point by expressing surprise that the recent School Reorganisation decision had not been called-in by the committee...........I was more than surprised. More a case of disgusted !
We then had the Deputy Leader moaning about how many items there were in the 'Forward Plan' of future decisions, who then took great offence at my pointing out that half the decision's seemed to be his for 'flogging off' Council assets.
The meeting concluded with my getting an assurance that the reasoning behind some of the decisions in the School Reorganisation decision would be put in writing to me before the decision is fully implemented at the end of this week. Something useful to have for the future.....
They made lots of decisions on:- the IW Act; funding for the new Cowes secondary school (they are already raiding the capital pot for £2.5m); creating an 'Education Forum'; assisting the Salvation Army to build a homeless hostel in Ryde (a good thing in my view); getting help to establish a 'Community Management & Ownership of Public Assets' policy (which could have implications for Pan); last year's Budget outturn ; and the communications contract with Westminster City Council (which has been reined in a bit after a rare scrutiny 'call-in'.
Many Cabinet members seemed far more interested in defending the Scrutiny Committee from my early criticisms about its 'tame' nature. The Leader going so far as to describe them as 'our good friends on the scrutiny committee'. I pointed out that this was something the committee had NEVER been called when I was Chair, and I was very pleased that it wasn't. He rather proved my point by expressing surprise that the recent School Reorganisation decision had not been called-in by the committee...........I was more than surprised. More a case of disgusted !
We then had the Deputy Leader moaning about how many items there were in the 'Forward Plan' of future decisions, who then took great offence at my pointing out that half the decision's seemed to be his for 'flogging off' Council assets.
The meeting concluded with my getting an assurance that the reasoning behind some of the decisions in the School Reorganisation decision would be put in writing to me before the decision is fully implemented at the end of this week. Something useful to have for the future.....
3 comments:
How did Iggy Pop get to meet the Scrutiny Committee ?
Hello Geoff,
Why are the New Downside Primary School plans not shown in the Newport Schools document? The New West Wight one is!
Also, what's a MUGA (in the page after Barton)? Is it to do with the Deputy Leader, and public assets!!!
Sue
Perhaps because it is a smokescreen to keep people happy whilst the Pan development planning application is processed ? The Downside site - or 'Furrlongs' site - is referred to as part of the new Medina Secondary School.
Sorry to tell you, but a MUGA is a Multi Use Games Area.
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