Call to debate 'centralised' council plan (From Western Telegraph)

From what I've heard, Dyfed wasn't such a bad set up. Certainly as far as Pembrokeshire is concerned, I firmly believe its days are numbered. The cost of so much local bureaucracy just cannot be sustained - especially now we have a National Assembly at Cardiff. Anyway, more and more of my post seems to be arriving these days with Dyfed on the address so maybe the move is already well on its way.

Cllr John Davies, who is also chairman of the Welsh Local Government Association, said that local authorities were the delivery arm of the Welsh Government and “we need to have a frank and honest debate about it across Wales”.

Such a shame we have no frank and honest bebate about PCC. There is NO demecracy in Pembrokeshire.

Apologies for spelling mistakes :)

i disagree with termite, there is democracy in pembrokeshire but there is no democracy in p.c.c. it is do as Parry-jones says. It is about time we got rid of this so called cabinet and returned to the days of full council meetings decided what to do in pembrokeshire, why do we vote in 60+ councilors and pay wages to them when the twelve cabinet members make all the major desitions, then ones that Parry-jones wants

All 22 authorities were provided with a standard "model" contitution in 2002, which gave guidance on legal matters that have to be determined by full council and a number of matters that were for each authority to determine locally the delegated level at which decisions were to be made.
Based on the advice of officers who drew up the Constitution, the majority of councillors in Pembrokeshire decided to hand over most matters, saving the legal ones that they couldn't, to officers.
A comparison of our constitution with those of other authorities will show what a miserable, inadequate , thin document ours is, that leaves a lot to be interpreted by officers.
Other authorities have retained powers for democratic decision by full council.
Its not the Leader and Cabinet style of local government that is at fault, just the way councillors have allowed it to operate in Pembrokeshire.
Following a Judicial Review and two external reports which exposed the way chief officers only reveal selective information to councillors, do not keep written record of decsions that they have made, and commented that councillors could not hide behind the fact that they had delegated decsion making to officers that Leader John Davies had to order a full review of the Constitution. The Welsh Audit office is now to conduct a review of the Corporate Governance arrangments.
If Pembrokeshire dissappears as a local authority, it will probably save a number of senior county councillors from embarassment.
Did anyone vote for an independent councillor in the knowledge they would combine post election to control the council? What policies did they collectively promote pre- election? Perhaps in the absence of any political policies, officers thought it wasn't worth asking them.
Would anyone knowingly vote for a councillor who is content to be directed by unelected officers without question? Clearly we do.
Have councillors been protecting officers who make decisions for them, and vice versa?

Indeview, this must rank as the most concise and informative post ever on this blog. Thank you-you are clearly too intelligent to be a councillor, but you must be close to the action to have such a clear grasp of what is going on.
If I can add that I have argued for years that Pembrokeshire suffers because of a lack of proper political leadership and the recent critical reports back up this view.
I can only hope that at next years elections, the mealy mouthed Indies are voted out and proper political control is exerted over County hall.
On a slightly separate note, no councillor has actually resigned as a direct result of these awful reports,apart from a sort of resignation from the Indie councillor from Milford.
I hope the electorate remembers this next May.

My interest and first encounter with the "culture" of our council dates from the earlier committee system when Pembrokeshire County Council was re established in 1996.
A refurbishment of The Garden Room at the Haverfordwest Community Education centre, involving a high standard of furniture and carpets was in progress, far too grand for us mere mortals.Nothing was reported in the public committee agendas and minutes.
The then Director of Education informed me that this was "an initiative of the Chief Executive's" at an estimated cost of about £40,000.
I understand that this room was used for Council meetings with outside bodies. The new County Hall had yet to be built.
The "culture" of this council therefore pre-dates the Leader and Cabinet system.
I have just seen that the Accountable Board set up by the Leader is to be held in secret. As it is not a committee ( what is in a name) it is not required to be open to the public.
This will ensure that only edited minutes are available to the public.
John Hudson( Indeview)

My interest and first encounter with the "culture" of our council dates from the earlier committee system when Pembrokeshire County Council was re established in 1996.
A refurbishment of The Garden Room at the Haverfordwest Community Education centre, involving a high standard of furniture and carpets was in progress, far too grand for us mere mortals.Nothing was reported in the public committee agendas and minutes.
The then Director of Education informed me that this was "an initiative of the Chief Executive's" at an estimated cost of about £40,000.
I understand that this room was used for Council meetings with outside bodies. The new County Hall had yet to be built.
The "culture" of this council therefore pre-dates the Leader and Cabinet system.
I have just seen that the Accountable Board set up by the Leader is to be held in secret. As it is not a committee ( what is in a name) it is not required to be open to the public.
This will ensure that only edited minutes are available to the public.
John Hudson( Indeview)

Sorry about the double post!

indeview wrote:
Sorry about the double post!

No probs, interesting and informative post as usual.
My interest in council affairs only goes back some 8 years, so I've got a bit of catching up to do!
Unfortunately it seems nothing ever changes in the way the County is run.