Full Council tonight - many apologies and hardly any public - I could see just two. And a very thin agenda that was all over after just over an hour. And no press other than the CP.......
Basically it was an opportunity for opposition councillors to hold Cabinet members to account in a little more depth and for one Tory to do their usual brown-nosing. The latter as ever seized their opportunity, but I'm not sure all the former took full advantage.
I went along with two areas to question: the absence of effective scrutiny after 9 months of this Council - the newish Independent Chair of Scrutiny agreed with me, as much of this is now the responsibility of Scrutiny Panel Chairs, who are loyal, payroll Tories. However, he will be making further endeavours to get his overarching Committee operating effectively......I wish him the best of luck.
Secondly with 2 questions for Cllr Cousins - but she was away doing far more important national business to trouble herself with the mayhem around her adult care portfolio on the Council. So the Leader covered for. I asked him to give some reassurance to care users and providers that from the 'dogs breakfast' they are making of social care personalisation they would prioritise getting it right. Some 10,000 words of waffle later I had to ask him again, but I got nowhere other than an invitation to join his Members on personalisation awareness sessions......
I also asked the Leader for some words of reassurance to my residents over the appointment of you know who as the Pan development contractors as it hasn't really gone down very well, but he preferred to lie (doesn't he always ?) that the 7 year funding of PNP is to be curtailed after the next and penultimate financial year. Yes the funding would be subject to a re-elected Labour government's comprehensive spending review with a probable positive outcome, but if the unbearable happens (a T**y government) it has about as much chance of surviving as a fish out of water.
Finally my most amusing moment was a question of Cllr Giles from the Tory for Newport Central asking when the parking review would be taking place as many of her residents are in 'dire straits' after the car park permit was abolished. But she voted FOR its abolition !!!
2 comments:
unfortunately, grasping the obvious is not one of her skills.
Geoff, I dont see why the PNP should exsist. How come this one area of the Island gets special treatment and please dont give me an excuses about them being deprived!! - As for the new Pan development. What on earth has it got to do with the present residents. The development will be blighted because of the 'neighbours'. It should have had a different name altogether. The council was lucky to get anybody to undertake this new white elephant. No Islander is going to buy a house on the Pan estate! Still, I suppose you will get more client voters.
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