Searching scrutiny?

Last week saw Stockton Borough Council's Annual Meeting which agreed, amongst other things, appointments to the various council scrutiny / select committees.

Scrutiny is a vital principle of democracy.  It is the process by which the council's decisions, policies and performance are examined closely to ensure the services provided are done so as efficiently and effectively as possible.  The importance of the searching scrutiny of decisions before they come into effect cannot be understated.

In recent years (whilst Conservative led) the council strived to ensure that the chair of each select committee was appointed from a different political group to that of the cabinet member holding the corresponding portfolio.  This resulted in an highly robust and effective scrutiny process, with material improvements to policies recommended (and accepted) across all areas of council business.  It was therefore with great trepidation that I sat and watched the Labour group, in one of its first actions since forming a coalition administration with IBIS, move away from this successful model of corporate governance in favour of appointing the vast majority of the chairs and vice-chairs from within its own ranks.

Why Labour decided to do this, with no ostensible benefit other than to the Labour & IBIS members now pocketing the special allowances that come with their appointments, is genuinely puzzling.  It's all the more puzzling to see a number of important posts handed to individuals newly elected to the council just two weeks earlier who have no prior experience of sitting on a scrutiny committee, let alone chairing one, whatsoever.  I for one would love to hear the rationale behind these appointments, but I doubt I ever will.

Yarm Farmers' Market

A busy couple of days kicked off with Yarm Town Council's annual meeting on Tuesday evening.  Wasting no time in delivering on their pre-election promise, local Conservatives secured the necessary agreement for the return of a farmers' market to the cobbles of Yarm.

The market - arranged in conjunction with the Northern Dales Farmers' Market Association - will be held on the cobbles around the Town Hall on Sunday 24 July 2011, 9am - 3pm.  Further trial events will be held in October and December, and assuming the events are a success we intend to introduce a monthly market thereafter.

I'm sure the market will prove to be a wonderful boon to our area as well as providing valuable support to local farmers during what are very difficult times. 

A huge vote of thanks should go to retiring town councillor Paul Smith for all his hard work in organising the market.

Political pointscoring

I hear that it will be announced tomorrow that Labour, who fell 2 seats short of an overall majority on Stockton Borough Council, will form a council in coalition with IBIS.

It goes without saying that, for all our sakes, I wish the new council and its cabinet well.  That said it is extremely disappointing, however, that the Labour group flatly refused to consider continuing what had been a relatively successful power-sharing arrangement with the Conservative group (which culminated in Stockton being named 'Council of the Year' in 2010), not because the Labour group thought that an agreement with IBIS was in the best interests of the borough, but because of their objection to government policies.  One can only smile at the hypocrisy of the Labour group then opting to instead work with IBIS given Labour's objections to free schools, such as the one IBIS hope to secure!

It remains to be seen what impact a Labour - IBIS run council will have on Yarm and Kirklevington, but given Labour's track record of only spending money where it enjoys support and the extremely parochial attitude of the IBIS councillors these are likely to be challenging times.

Welcome

First of all welcome to, and thank you for visiting, my blog.  I hope that this will eventually prove a useful tool for keeping residents informed of news and events in and around Yarm & Kirklevington.

Having undergone two days of induction as a new ward councillor, it is apparent that the next couple of months are going to be a steep learning curve.  Luckily I will be aided by two other Conservative councillors; the hugely experienced Andrew Sherris, who has been a ward councillor for Yarm & Kirklevington for more years than he'd rather I'd mention here, and Ben Houchen, who like myself is new to the council but I'm sure will prove to be an excellent ward councillor.

The coming months are likely to prove incredibly busy with the old chestnut of parking in and around Yarm High Street high on the agenda, and we'll continue to keep residents updated with progress on this and other issues through our regular Intouch newsletter.