The Conservative
Group at Thanet District Council is calling for the Independent Members of the
Standards Committee to reconsider their resignation and to return to their
positions to continue their work. They
were heavily criticised by senior members of the administration at the last
Standards Committee meeting but the Conservative Group accepts their report’s
conclusions that the Council is 'held in low regard by the public' and 'has the
appearance of a dysfunctional organisation.
Conservative Group
leader, Cllr Bob Bayford said: “The Conservatives at TDC are committed to
change. We will re-engage with the residents of Thanet and try to understand
their expectations of us, explain to them the challenges of being an effective
opposition without being seen to be unnecessarily antagonistic and, with them,
develop a suite of policies that could deliver the Thanet that they want to
see.”
Cllr Bayford
submitted a motion to Council which called for filming of meetings to be
permitted for an initial period of six months followed by a review of its
effectiveness. This motion was rejected
under the rule which prevents duplicate motions within a six month period. The Conservative Group will resubmit this
motion when the six months covered by the ruling expires at the end of March.
Agree wholeheartedly with apologising and requesting the independent members to return, but fascinated to know what Cllr Bayford means by being committed to change and re-enganging with the public. What does that mean? A start might be to tell us what you are doing, what you stand for and why. Might also be an idea to introduce some new blood into the shadow cabinet and for those with baggage to stand down.
ReplyDeleteWhat you stand for is an interesting question, Paul, for a local council. What do you think they should stand for when their role is primarily concerned with the provision of local services. It is fretting about what they stand for and wasting time on central political issues that has been perhaps the major failing of the present administration. Debating matters over which they have no control and perpetually tabling motions critical of central government does nothing for the people of Thanet.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the most important part of this statement by Bob Bayford is the acceptance of the independent report and the desire to listen to what people want and expect of their council. That, surely, is a call for a two way dialogue and places the emphasis on what the electorate expect of their councillors rather than the councillors pet issues, of which we have had far too much in the last couple of years.
If a meeting between the Shadow cabinet and the people is called in say Broadstairs or Ramsgate would you attend and what questions would you ask?
ReplyDeleteBarry, I would attend, but surely it is not questions we should be asking, but tabling out the things we expect of our district council. Perpetually asking about bygones would get us no where. It is the future conduct of the council that is important.
DeleteWilliam I'm sure the meeting would have to have a period of "lets get it all out in the open" before the real meeting can start
DeleteBarry, If the conservatives want public support, the characters associated with the Ezekiel era need to stand aside. This includes current senior tories who are too closely associated with an embarassing history. As you say, there needs to be a "lets get it all out in the open" and the attempts to suppress what every man and his dog knows are cover ups, need to stop. Cllr Gideon's feeble agreement that the Transeuropa scandal was unavoidable does nothing to help. If conservatives are culpable then apologise and dissarm the critics. That would at least be a start in getting public confidence.
ReplyDeleteThe next thing that needs to happen is that the conservatives need to become an effective opposition and promote proper scrutiny of the disasters now being caused by the current incompentent Labour admainistration. We hear of conservative criticism relating to our Pavilion, but what are they doing about it? Where officer advice is lacking, the conservatives need to challenge that and not just accept 'advice' on it's face value. There are always at least two sides to every story and blind allegience does no good and fosters more distrust.
The third thing is for the conservatives to start using the e world and telling us what they are challenging and why, and offering decent alternative policies. With the dreadful mess the Labour administration is geting us into, gaining the moral high ground should not be too difficult.
Paul & Barry, you seem to be missing the point which is trying to frame what the people expect of their council rather than some truth and confession saga. Who, for example, would you class as of the Ezekiel era. There was a man who committed an offence in public office for personal gain. A police investigation revealed no mass conspiracy, there was no suggestion of any other councillors benefitting so why should they be branded by association. When Ezekiel stood down and Bob Bayford took over, Bob chose his own team and changes ere being implemented when Worrow's floor crossing brought about a change of power.
DeleteOn the e issue, the only councillors currently trying to tell us what is going on are Simon Moores, a Conservative, and Ian Driver of the Green Party. All the Labour ones who once blogged seemed to have stopped or been silenced since the regime of closed doors took over.
Perhaps you should give the Conservatives a chance and see what they have to offer. As for personalities, well that is for the electorate to decide come May 2015, not any of us in isolation.
William I hear what you say but as you do not use Facebook you do not see the commentary on there. Human Nature as it is will mean that putting your head over the parapet will encourage people to sling mud. That is normal and to be expected. It will be worse because the Shadow Cabinet has been silent on issues since Worrow "crossed the floor".
DeleteThis is not me saying this but others in the Conservative ranks whom I have talked to, It is necessary and healthy because a meaningful debate can only occur when all the anger is out of the way.
It is especially difficult here in Ramsgate as there are zero active Councillors representing the views of the Tories so for us we need them to come to us.
Barry, whilst I do not use Facebook, the family do and I look at it from time to time. It does not do it for me, I am afraid, anymore than things like Linked-In or Friends Reunited did.
DeleteI think the thing here is that Bob Bayford is offering to communicate and that has to be a step in the right direction. Yes, of course, there will be some mud slung, but the important thing is not to miss the opportunity to communicate by allowing recrimination to dominate. That just creates ill feeling and gets people more entrenched.
William, It will be a good step forward if the conservatives start to communicate more, but do you know how this will work. How is the public expected to make contact and voice our expectations?
ReplyDeletePerhaps a good starting point, Paul, would be for interest groups, like FORS for example, to contact Bob Bayford and propose a meet up. Alternatively, individuals could write to the South Thanet Conservative Association offices in Ramsgate, for the attention of Bob, outlining their expectations. Communication has to be two way and I feel Bob Bayford has kicked it off by his offer to communicate. People now need to take him up on that.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest William a good starting point would be for Bob to start a blog and endeavour to communicate in an open and public forum on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteDifficult I know, time consuming too, and yes some of those who comment have problems and are not easy to deal with.
Michael, due respects, but meetings with those really interested in local matters would, in my view, be a far better way to begin. Sensible questions and answers between sensible and genuinely interested people has to be far better than some of the mindless hijacking that goes on around our blog sites. It is not by chance that most local politicians have given up on blog sites and the one or two who remain apply comment moderation.
DeleteWilliam, Michael's suggestion of a blog would be a good starting point. Could you suggest this to him please.
ReplyDeleteWilliam FORS have already communication links with the shadow Cabinet via 2 different Cabinet members. This is ongoing and extremely useful
ReplyDeletePleased to hear that, Barry, and hope you can keep a useful dialogue going leading to a better mutual understanding.
DeleteAfter having a brief chat with Martin and Bob tonight after Council we will sort something for next week
DeleteWilliam, I still consider that the suggestions of a Bob's Blog would be a step in the right direction. We have to face it that until the very recent press release supporting the standards committee report identifying that the Council are perceived as being corrupt, communications from the conservatives have been noticeable by their absence. Indeed even those messages were confused with three conservatives criticising the committees before Bob supported them. All the other parties blog, use facebook and twitter and appear to sing from the same hym sheet, yet the conservatives produce nothing. Don't you think that silence only adds to the speculation and suspicion.
ReplyDeletePaul, if anything the Conservatives, through Simon Moores, are more in touch than Labour, who no longer have one regularly blogging councillor. That apart, do you really want a site that is hijacked the way Thanetonline and Eastcliff Richard have been with continuous moronic allegations of pollution, Thor mercury spillage, 0% salaries, illegal flights and arrests of TDC and Infratil. There does not have to be silence just because there is no Bpb's Blog and I am encouraged by Barry's comment at 16:00 yesterday.
ReplyDelete