Pleasantly surprised

One of my tasks for today was to attend a couple of meetings with our providers of home and residential care.  The aim of the meetings was to give an overview of fees and costs for next year which is not a great story given the financial circumstances we are in; in particular it means we cannot give the sort of uplift that some would be looking for.  I gave a short introduction to the meetings, giving the political perspective about Council finances and our prevention and transformation agenda in Adult Social Care and was also there to respond to questions.

I expected to be given a bit of a rough ride and was incredibly surprised by the response.  Yes there was some concern about costs - actually the most significant concern was about the impact of fuel costs on our providers, which I pledged to write to Ministers about, but actually the meeting was really productive with providers talking as much about future possibilities and the willingness to work with us on the sort of transformation vision we have.

It really gave me heart that, although times are tough, the agenda we have as a County Council is the right one.

A bit of humour..

This was one of two pictures I found on a Wisbech Facebook page following yesterday's Cabinet visit.  It made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. (It's also a good bit of photo shopping!)

Taxi for Patrick

At the last Full Council meeting I teased the County Council's Liberal Democrat groups by saying that it was nice to hear them mention Fenland without just talking about taxis - because taxi issues seem to be the sole raison d'etre for Wisbech Liberal Democrats.

Just to prove my point Fenland Councillor Dave "Taxi" Patrick decided to use today to protest to a County Council Cabinet over an issue over which they have absolutely no jurisdiction.  Cllr Patrick is a taxi driver, good luck to him, but he has a ward to look after. but the only issues he seems to want to highlight are those revolving around his profession.

Does all this matter?  Yes, it does.  As I pointed out - part of today was about creating positive momentum; recognising investment, announcing new initiatives and spring boarding Wisbech forwards.  Councillor Patrick tried to make today all about his taxis, he tried to change the story and raise something that, in truth, pales into insignificance when you consider the millions of pounds of investment that is being made and the opportunity that creates for a community that needs and deserves exactly that.

We had Councillors from all parties and from across the County today turn up and contribute to the Cabinet meeting, fair play to them.  Dave Patrick, chose to ignore his ward, chose not to use the opportunity to raise issues there and, instead, to repeat his over-tired taxi rank mantra.  He is in danger of becoming a joke, that is a shame for the people of Kirkgate who he claims to represent.

The County Council's Wisbech Day

As a break from usual ways of working, the County Council held it's Cabinet Meeting at the Boathouse in Wisbech today as part of a whole day focused on Wisbech and its issues.  I am not one who denies those issues exist, the evidence is all too clear.  So, in terms of trying out something new, it was absolutely the right place to start.  I do want to say however, that the Daily Mail (my least favourite newspaper) and others who choose to exaggerate and stretch reality in order to sell papers does absolutely nothing to help.  The point was made today that we need to start talking positively about the future of Wisbech and realising that even a community that has issues, has strengths that can be captured and built upon.

The day started with a breakfast hosted by Archant (owners of Cambs Times and Wisbech Standard) and attended by Cabinet Members, local dignitaries, readers of abovementioned newspapers and others. The leaders of both Fenland District Council and the Council spoke during this session - a great way of setting the scene for the day.  

We then went on to the Cabinet meeting, where we discussed a number of issues.  The Lib Dems excelled themselves by talking about a bus service, having spoken to passengers about the impact that ending the subsidy would have, in fact, the bus they travelled on was commercial and therefore not under threat.  But, overall the meeting was a good one with some really good contributions from most of the speakers and some positive discussions. 

There were a number of important announcements made today.  I could comment on each and every one, it's probably better to just catch up with the Wisbech Standard website and Steve Tierney's blog.  But it is worth saying that the most important announcement was the 20-20 vision, because it potentially encompasses the rest.

As a Whittlesey Councillor, I do want to highlight that once again Alan Melton, the Leader of Fenland District Council, said that the A605 Whittlesey Bypass is key for the future of Fenland - a vision both he and I have been selling for some time.  This solution is a long way from being done and dusted but it is moving forwards.  Why is the bypass important?  Well, Whittlesey residents are screaming out for it, but for the rest of Fenland the potential to have the sort of easy access to the A1 from the heart of Fenland that an A605 bypass would provide offers all sots of economic benefits.

During lunch we had a discussion with community representatives and some very positive contributions from Inspector Robin Sissons, Christopher Smith, the former MD of Roddons and a number of primary school leaders which gave us, as a Cabinet, plenty of food for thought.

I then went for a trip to a day centre and a residential centre for adults with learning disabilities - all linked to my Adult Services cabinet role.  Once again, it was incredibly helpful.  I really enjoy getting out and talking to people, spending time getting to know how things work from the bottom-up.  In an organisation that spends over £180m a year (which Adult Services does) this is a vital part of what I do. It is this sort of, often hidden, work of a Cabinet Member that takes time and effort, but offers a real contribution to helping improve services and, in turn, peoples' lives.  As ever, I learned a huge amount, took a few issues away and left cards for people to contact me and so they can invite me back if needed.

We finished the day with a wash up, just discussing the day and what we learned from it - overall the feedback was really positive.  Three things come out of today; some much better informed Councillors; some real positive momentum for a Town that needs and deserves exactly that; and a model that can be repeated elsewhere in the County.

I have to say, when the idea of a Cabinet meeting in Wisbech was mentioned to me, I was a bit sceptical; I felt that it would be seen as tokenism.  I was wrong, well partially wrong, because what today turned into was something that was far more worthwhile than just simply moving a meeting out of Shire Hall and I hope the press response has proven that.

Review of Allowances

There has been some media and twitter comment about the latest review of Councillors' Allowances at Cambridgeshire County Council (note the way I conveniently skip past the previous disaster!!), this review is something that Councils are obliged to do, the Cambridgeshire one is years overdue. There is a public meeting about the review next Monday at Anglia Ruskin University.

The panel will take into account the workload and responsibility of Councillors and how our rates compare to others, it will also take into account current economic circumstances.

Once the panel's recommendations are made County Councillors will have to vote on whether to adopt them or not.

I am putting this blog post here to repeat my previous view and my intention.  Whatever the outcomes of that review, my vote will be to support its recommendations.  MPs no longer vote on their salaries, yet have kept a scheme in place that makes Councillors vote on their allowances - if they know it is not right for them, they should not force it on us.  I am therefore not going to play any games and I am declaring my intention now, which is not to intervene in the decisions of the independent panel and therefore to accept whatever it recommends.

Just to reiterate the point, when Fenland District Council voted on the review, Councillors chose to amend the proposed scheme.  As a result of this, I chose to abstain from the vote.  I have also voted in support of a successful motion at Cambridgeshire County Council calling on the Government to change this ludicrous system.

How independent was he?

The Lib Dems chose not to oppose Mark Archer at last year's Fenland elections to give him a free run as an independent against the Conservative candidate. He ran a campaign where he described himself as "fiercely independent" and after the election thanked the residents of Manea and described them as "independently minded".

A short year after being given a free ride by the Lib Dems, he has chosen to join a new political group- at Fenland called "the Lib Dem Alliance". The residents of Manea have every right to question whether they were conned a year ago.

During last year's elections I wrote a blog about the dangers of voting independent which was used by the Cambs Times.  That article concluded with the comment:

"So, my message is this - unless you really, really know what you are voting for and who you are voting for, be very cautious about voting independent; independence may not offer the benefits you think it does."

I think my views back then have been somewhat vindicated.

Budget and Council Tax Rise Agreed and I was nice to some Lib Dems

We had our budget debate at Cambridgeshire County Council earlier this week.  It is normally one of our livelier meetings and certainly was not without controversy.  Surprisingly, one of the least contentious issue was about the Council Tax rise, with broad support for the decision to go for an increase of 2.95% and reject the Pickles Promise.  I have raised this before on my blog, so I don't propose to go back over it.

The Lib Dems were broadly supportive of our Council Tax rise and had (as usual)  managed to miraculously magic money to spray around like confetti on their pet projects.  In fact a major part of that money was £28m they would take away from the development of Northstowe (which is effectively a new Town proposed to the North West of Cambridge).  This money would not stop Northstowe happening and was effectively an investment that gave us a greater say in how the development happen; it should come back into the Council coffers at a later date. One of my criticisms of politicians is that they often fail to learn from the mistakes of the past - one of those mistakes from a Cambridgeshire perspective is that when we developed Cambourne there was a failure to deliver community infrastructure early in the project so people arrived without an easy way of building communities, something that caused significant social problems. In proposing to cut this funding the Lib Dems are in danger of saying they are willing to repeat the same mistake.

From a Whittlesey and Fenland perspective Councillor Alan Melton, the Leader of FDC stood up and reminded Cambridgeshire of the priority that the A605 Whittlesey bypass was and how important it is to economic development for the whole of Fenland.

In some ways my own Cabinet Portfolio got a bit of a rough ride. Not because of the ambition and vision that I outlined for Adult Services.  In fact two of the Lib Dems talked about the sort of need for change that I have been espousing for some time - and I thanked them for that, but because the scrutiny committee  report presented to Full Council about Adult Services expressed some cynicism about the budget. I have no issue with that, the history of Adult Services budget is not good, so some concern is to be expected.  However, I did point out that circumstances are different, that there is a renewed drive for change, but also that we had used the Council Tax increase to invest an additional £12m over three years into the budget to help deal with past problems and make sure we had the space to invest in prevention and transformation.  

What was interesting for me was that the Lib Dems were able to stand up and point to that scrutiny report, but not one of them was able to say that their budget identified the solution.  Adult Services is 40% of the Council's spend, yet the Liberal Democrats had put virtually nothing into it from the millions they claimed to have identified for investment - probably because investing in Adult Services was not a headline grabber.  I made that point at the meeting and the body language from the opposition benches showed that they knew I was right (heads down, furtive sideways glances - that sort of thing).

One of the more controversial aspects of the day was a vote to curtail the debate on the Lib Dem alternative budget and to have it put to the vote early,  I supported that vote after listening to some of the comments from my colleagues, but with hindsight I am not sure it was the right thing to do.  There is a danger that those sorts of votes create the headlines, when actually they should be about the budget and what was, for the most, an extremely healthy debate.  That said, we were at a point where we had spent some 6 hours talking about the budget ,a sizable proportion of which was spent on the Lib Dem proposals.

Despite the 2.95% Council Tax rise, it needs to be said that savings still have to be made in the next financial year - including in Adult Services (which will still have a tough year). It is my belief that the money we are able to generate from having a higher Council Tax rise minimises the impct of those cuts, but also that it provides scope for necessary capital investment that will drive the County forwards. As a Fenland resident, it is probably the superfast broadband project, the investment on the College of West Anglia site and the completion of our Building Schools for the Future programme that I am looking forward to most - but there is something in there for the whole County.