Blog comment: Water cooler politics - by the Plastic Hippo
17 Nov 09 13:44 Filed in: News
Water cooler politics
The Plastic Hippo 17 Nov 09
Times are undoubtedly hard, and as Britain lags behind comparable economies dragging themselves out of recession, sacrifices still have to be made.
Walsall Council has tabled the draft budget for 2010/11 detailing the sacrifices expected in order to “save” over £11 million. In spite of Walsall consistently receiving well above the national average in government grants, there will be a council tax increase of 4.5%, retaining Walsall’s position as having the highest council tax burden in the region. A budget report complied by Rory Borealis, Council Executive Director for Resources, sets out how “efficiencies, savings, fees and charges” in each portfolio will be made.
Curiously, the report describes cuts in services as “growth”, but the reality behind the Orwellian double-speak cannot be disguised by clever semantics. Cuts include half a million on Leisure and Culture, a million on Environment, well over a million on Children’s services and, more worryingly, a massive five million on Social care and Health. To even out the burden, and to show that we are all in this together, water coolers at council offices have been removed to save money. Demoralised staff will be spared the “water cooler moment” of worrying about where the axe will fall next. However, some areas of council spending remain ring-fenced and secure. There are still sufficient funds in the coffers to allow the mayor to invite councillors for “Christmas drinks” in the parlour following the council meeting on November 9th. Christmas seems to have come early at the Council House.
Given the deepening financial crisis that besets Walsall, a situation replicated in other authorities across the country, questions need to be asked as to who actually makes decisions in local democracy. The days of lively, informed debate on key decisions in council chambers up and down the land have long gone, replaced by the leader and cabinet system. Intended to streamline decision-making and remove the drawn out drudgery of the committee process, cabinets were supposed to improve accountability and curb the confrontational and loutish behaviour of some councillors as they tried to block resolutions and filibuster along tribal party political lines into the wee small hours. Instead, we now have a system that is less accountable and devoid of any meaningful scrutiny. In a single party fiefdom like Walsall, a healthy majority of councillors means that key decisions come pre-packed from cabinet and pre-cabinet private meetings and are carried by block vote. Few councillors would dare to stray from party diktat.
At that full council meeting on November 9th, the Labour group, supported by the other opposition parties, proposed that a working group be set up to look at ways of making cabinet more accountable. This was the final item on the agenda, all the previous resolutions having been passed by a show of hands in exactly 15 minutes. The speed at which the council rattled through the agenda even caused the mayor to joke about sending a council officer out to the off licence to replenish the mayoral drinks cabinet in readiness for the following drinks reception.
On paper, the proposal contained some good ideas including increasing the frequency of full council meetings, regular reports from portfolio holders and the opportunity to ask cabinet members “unseen” questions. But in a display of political naivety, the Labour group handed the ruling Tory group a get out jail card by asking for extra resources for research. No prudent cabinet could possibly endorse such reckless spending, so several rather charming babies were thrown out along with an egg cup full of bath water. The motion was defeated on a block vote.
So decisions will continue to be made behind closed doors by a handful of elected members who are being advised by anonymous and un-elected officers. These mandarins, motivated only by the pragmatic elegance of accountancy, see an unfilled social work vacancy as an efficiency, the closure of a leisure centre as a saving and the issuing of parking tickets to the families of fallen war heroes as income generation. When, and not if, a tragedy on the scale of Baby Peter occurs in Walsall, at least the corporate books will be in balance.
Disgruntled council tax payers, already disenchanted with politics generally, may decide to stay away in droves from the next round of local elections and thus preserve the status quo. They may decide to swop one ruling group for another when a new leader will choose a new cabinet. However, the arrogance of the current oligarchy may result in something far worse.
The prospect of a referendum to replace the cabinet system with an elected mayor is looming. Any raving lunatic or reality show wannabe will be free to stand and might actually be elected as the sole decision-maker. The current process of nods and winks in corridors and back offices will be gone. If that is to be the case, the removal of water coolers would appear to be a good call. Policy made around them will, in the future, be made by one person around the re-stocked drinks cabinet in the mayoral parlour.
Walsall Council Cabinet report 18 Nov Draft Corporate Revenue Budget for Consultation PDF
YamYam 14 Nov Walsall a step closer to an elected mayor
YamYam 11 Nov Any other business - Council decisions (Mon 9 Nov 09)
YamYam 11 Nov Walsall Council axes water coolers
Cllr Ian Shires 10 Nov Failure to make Walsall Council more democratic