What does a Councillor actually Do ? (7) Committee Work

One of the stereotypes grounded in reality about Councillors is that they sit on a lot of committees. Today I attended the Councils Plans West Panel ( Britain's biggest covering just shy of 4 parliamentary constituencies ?) I was quite slack missing the site visits and arriving late. However starting at 1030 and finishing at 1815 you can see why people need to dip in an out. I like Plans Panel because you actually get to take real decisions which frankly Councillors do less of than you might think. It was a bitty agenda and I only got to make two contributions. One beefing up the affordable housing provision in a flats complex ( If as a result there are just 3 or 4 extra socially rented units in existence then its as honest a days work as I'll ever do ). The second putting down a marker about microgeneration, green roofes and grey water recycling on an (otherwise excellent) first draft of a new school in West Leeds.

To some extent Plans Panels are a bit like Constitutional Monarchs, its not the powers that they have its the powers they stop other people having. I will go out on a limb and say I'd be horrified by the prospect of planning officers approving all the big stuff on there won. If you want to know why look at today's discussion over the woodside quarry in Horsforth. 70 minutes of panel members picking holes in and asking questions of an officer report. It wasn't pedantry I assure you.

After the meeting I went to the new Wetherspoons overlooking Millennium square with former colleague Coun Brian Jennings ( Con, Weetwood) . Brian was elected as a Lib Dem but you don't lasy Long in this business without realising there are decent people in all parties. I felt very old as we chewed the fat. Brian is contesting his seat in May and we are both likely to be suceeeded by much younger people and "political professionals".

When you end a working day drinking real ale, scorning youth and cursing the professionalisation of politics perhaps its just as well I'm retiring to the suburbs.

I Predict a Riot

Just to show that I hang with da Kids can I publicise " I Predict a Riot" a club night at the Mine at Leeds University Union 2100 to 0200 on Wednesday 27th of February. Its a joint effort between LUU LGBT assembly and LUU LDYS. Its £3 in and aims to raise money for EACH a charity combating homophobia in schools as well as publicing the "Homophobia is Gay " campaign.

I understand a number of oldies from Leeds Liberal Democrats will be attending but the Union building is conveniently situated for all Leeds 6 residents. It may well be fun and its s tand agaisnt all forms of discrimination.

Special Area Committee Meeting

As one of the worst offenders I appreciate the following better than most. If there is no gallery then no one will play to it. Last Nights special Area committee meeting for Inner North West was a superb example of politics at its best. We spent an hour in mature discussion about the new devolutionary measures Leeds City Council is making. We all welcome the prospect of additional powers but rather agreed the details leaves a lot to be desired. We then moved onto the thorny and long running issue of the Woodsley Road Multi Cultural. We heard a delegation from the management committee and went "below the line" ( a Council term for a Confidential discussion ) to discuss staffing and financial issues. We agreed an option appraisal for changing the tenure of the building. The issues are complex and the management committee have a long term aim to own it them selves. This will be a bumpy ride but the status quo of council ownership, funding and it seems zero operational control can't continue.

After that we had a budget seminar and laid the foundations of next years £230k well being budget. This will save enormous time on 7/2/08 budget meeting proper.

My point? In just under 3 hours we did justice to three really big pieces of work. The defining factor being the almost complete absence of the public. With no gallery, there was no point scoring or theatrics. The very high levels of public attendance that our area committee has developed is great in my view. It certainly keeps us on our toes. But last night made me think as I have before whether or not the occasional private session once every 6 months would allow a bit more reflection.

Will any of this make a difference to residents lives? Perhaps. Leeds City Council is so huge that an expanded, more frequent and better funded Area Committee could do more. I think we decided last night to keep pushing. Re funding our success stories such as the Planning Officer and Fundraising Project keeps this capacity in place. Woodsley Road run better could be a significant hub for the Kashmiri community who are playing such an important part in regenerating the area.

I often moan on this blog but last night we did some good governing and i suspect the process was part of that.

Full Council

Today's Full Council meeting has just finished with the guillotine keeping it to 5 and a half hours. I'm not usually upbeat about such occasions but the actual debates were of a unusually high and Topical quality. There is a darker side which I will come onto but much decent local government was discussed. As ever the day started with "Delegations" where by the public can present a case to the Full Council for 5 minutes. The winner of the "Mayor for the Day" competition for school children came along with class mates and spoke of the need for more concern for the Environment. It was probably the best speech of the day. If you are going to denounce the Council for cutting your funding getting the Rector of Leeds to do it for you in full clerical gear is a good Visual. I was pleased to pick up on front bench hints that the Cutting of the grant to RELATE may be reversed as evidence, anecdotal I accept, that poorer people are not seeking counselling because of the charges now in place is mounting. WE hear more residents anger about the Tinshill Recreation fence fiasco. However sympathetic I am to there cause the matter is legally closed. We can only learn the lessons and not repeat them. Then came two Headingley issues. An impassioned and well reasoned plea for the Council to purchase the LGHS playing fields for the green space deprived children of Hyde Park. I will blog about this seperately. Finally a delegation about the possibility of the Elinor Lupton Centre being sold to a pub chain. As a Headingley Councillor I share peoples pain around alcohol fuelled disorder but I just sometimes wonder if other people across the city understand the tone.

I skipped a "Question Time" ( 30 minutes of questions to the Executive) to pop to the bank and write a speech on the Former Headingley Primary School and some of the later debates. We then moved on to the "Minutes" this is a nitty gritty opportunity to comment on detailed local or city wide matters by referring to various committee minutes that have met since the last Council meeting. Because we never have time to discuss even a fraction of them people have become astute about raising what they want before the guillotine falls however tenuous the link the minute is. I spoke on Headingley Primary School and the HEART proposal. As ever I tried to take a slightly different view and speculated that the long term impact on public space and rental housing that the Trust might make rather than just think of the proposal as a glorified community centre. I also pointed out that contrary to some peoples spin the thing is far from definite. If the trust fails to find refurbishment costs then the scheme can still fail. Is it worth sacrificing at least part of the Town Centre regeneration scheme to save HEART? I at least
asked the question.

After a 20 minutes Tea break we went onto "White Papers" which are council resolutions. The Labour Group attacked the administration for wide spread use of 0845 numbers which charge people for ringing the council call centre. The administration countered by pointing out that the answered call rate had gone up from 38% to 97% while they had been in power. True but not strictly speaking the point that was being debated. I suspect after today that 0845 numbers will be quickly dropped.

We then moved on and discussed the central Governments financial settlement for Leeds this year which is fairly grim. This was guillotined with out much debate. I had two speeches on my pocket on Nuclear power ( on a Green White paper) and the only local government fiance that will never See the light of day. I suppose the moral of the story is if you want to make a noise at council get your comment in on the minutes.

The high light of the day was seeing Coun John Proctor ( Con, Wetherby) have to show signs of humility over the Half Marathon fiasco. I don't see any shame in saying a mistake had been made and reversing it which is what the Council has done. There would have been a blood bath if the cancellation had still been in place today but as it was the issue was deflated.

On a negative side? I'm an old fashioned and idealistic politician who thinks to achieve forward momentum in politics by ideas and success. When most of your defensive comments is about how much worse things were under the last lot then perhaps something has gone wrong. I'm also increasingly irritated by the sheer volume of loud conversations that come from the Lib Dem /Conservative benches during Labour speeches. I just think its petty and betrays a certain lack of self confidence.

If i have learned anything over the last few years its that these set pieces effect internal morale enormously but have little relevance to the outside world. You can kid your self that a debating triumph means an issue doesn't matter while it will resonate with ordinary people. I suspect that 0845 numbers and the marathon are two of these.

As I have commented before I would like to say these meetings should be abolished but actually powerful people are held to account albeit in the most off putting of ways. The city would be worse off without them. As ever at this time of year the "Public gallery" was thronged with prospective council candidates , just as 8 years ago I sat and watched. They all looked entranced with it. I'll let them them have there idealism for a few more months. Those that make it will quickly begin to reappraise the freak show.

Not a way to Run a city?

A week is a long time in Politics. 7 days ago news began to leak about Leeds City Council's decision to cancel the 2008 Leeds Half Marathon. Predictably there was a back lash from marathon runners many of whom were already in training. They hadn't been consulted over the decision and many only found out when they rang up to try and register. Cue media and letters page outrage over the decision and phone calls to Councillors. Then the official justification began to unravel (a) the marathon was expensive ( but only it seems £1ok) (b) it was to concentrate on the Jane Tomlinson memorial 1okm fund run. But Jane was a runner and cancelling a well established run to hold a separate one in her name seemed odd? the family had not be involved in the decision. In any case even as a none runner I can tell you that a 10 km fun run is a very different kettle of fish to a half marathon. Then finally today the main local daily tabloid, the YEP launched a formal campaign to reinstate the race, having already given the issue acres of coverage.

It shouldn't surprise anyone then that this afternoon the Council caved in and the race will go ahead this year albeit later in the year. My question is this. Is this whole farrago a failure of democracy or a triumph? My answer is both.

The incident ( and I could quote numerous other examples) highlights the role of Councillors in righting wrongs but how excluded they are from the decision making process in the first place. The decision was made by officers by " Delegated Decision" whereby Council officers use very wide ranging operational powers without reference to Councillors. The only consultation about cancelling a well respected and well established city wide event was with a handful of Councillors (out of 99) who attend Leader Management Team. Its not unfair to say that this body handles an enormous amount of business and I would query how much attention it would have given to an operational matter like this.

The anarco-liberal in me believes that the vast majority of our 99 councillors can be excluded from these processes for so long. But when Bonkers and politically unsustainable decisions go public then our power returns. I haven't met anyone who hasn't sympathised with the emails and calls we have received from a ( admittedly very well organised) but passionate campaign by some of the City's running clubs. That sense of complete unfairness has very quickly been made known the powers that be ergo the prompt and complete U turn.

I'm sure that that many will seek to make political capital out of this sorry affair and to some extent the job has been done for them. I still think though there is a place for the elegant U turn in politics. A big mistake was made and when every one found out about it, we put it right quickly. Of course this shouldn't have gone wrong in the first place. perhaps if we were a bit more liberal and had more devolved and transparent decision making structures then it wouldn't have done. The difference between officers and councillors is this. Councillors are elected, removable accountable and tied into communities with political antenna. No one that ever run for public office would have thought you'd be able to get away with such high handed behaviour towards well organised and committed people at such short notice. Of course officers are technically experts in their fields but in a Democracy the former always should trump the later. Officers advise , Members decide as the old adage goes. When Councils stray to far from that the electorate has habit of reasserting control themselves.