AT ITS FULL COUNCIL MEETING on Tuesday, Castle Point Borough Council voted 21 to 14 in favour of undertaking a review of the current Cabinet System in anticipation of Coalition Government changes to the Local Government Act, which currently makes the present system mandatory.
The Canvey Island Independent Party voted in block against Bill Dick’s amendment to Dave Blackwell’s original motion calling upon the Council to revert to the previous Committee System, employed under the last local Labour administration, which had led to the Council being rated one of the eight worst boroughs in the UK. At that time, John Prescott (the then Deputy Labour Prime Minister) had threatened to take central control of the Socialist run borough to rectify the lamentable state of its political leadership and administration.
Readers will remember that, at the beginning of the year, the Conservative Cabinet unanimously voted to investigate the possibilities of having members of the public address the Cabinet at its meetings, directly – rather than having to present questions through their councillor as is presently required by Law.
It is not clear just what Blackwell hoped to achieve by his motion: ‘Canvey Island Independent Party calls upon Castle Point Council in the name of democracy to go back to the Committee System as soon as the Local Government Bill becomes law.’
The fact is that neither Blackwell, nor anyone else, knows what the new Bill’s white-paper will contain. Its proposed contents may become clearer during next week’s Conservative Party Conference; but it seems that Blackwell was determined to prejudge the issue to obtain Council’s commitment to the old form of committees that, as the then local Deputy Labour Leader, he once presided over while Prescott made his attacks.
It seems likely that Blackwell’s motion, for which he must have known there was no legal basis – and therefore no possibility of it being passed – was simply a means of obtaining friendly Echo coverage to raise the issue of ‘an undemocratic cabinet’ to lend weight to Colin Letchford’s petition for an elected Mayor.
But Letchford is also on the record as saying that he would prefer a return to the old Committee System, rather than have the elected Mayor that his petition has raised so much support for. So, perhaps, knowing the outcome, Blackwell’s motion was simply a means to persuade Letchford, petitioners, and residents that the Conservative Ruling Group were against any such change.
If that were the case, his attempt has spectacularly misfired.
It should also be pointed-out that, since the Cabinet System was adopted, Castle Point Borough Council, under its new Conservative Administration, is now rated as one of the best Councils in the country. Moreover, returning to the old Committee System would kill any chance of the Borough choosing to have an elected Mayor (who would need to select eight Cabinet members with whom to run the Borough).
Bill Dick’s amendment means that Council will immediately launch a full review of the Cabinet System; all Councillors will be able to participate; and all members will be able to vote on its recommendations.
Dick’s amendment also preserves the opportunity for residents to choose to have an elected Mayor, following Letchford’s petition, if that is what they wish.
Once again, the Echo appears to have angled its story from a biased CIIP press release. They specifically chose to report what was not passed by Council – rather than what was…
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