Anger at Crafty Councillor Allowances awarded by Warwickshire County Council

As a Borough Councillor and someone who also works full-time I rarely have time to hold the Conservative-led Warwickshire County Council to account. After all, I expect my own County Councillor to be doing that for me. However I have been so incensed after discovering their devious and crafty methods to increase the allowances paid to members that I have decided to speak out.

The figure that the County Council publicises as being the standard County Councillor Allowance is £8,975. This isn’t a bad figure when you consider that the Council’s constitution notes that there is ‘a voluntary element to the work undertaken by elected members and therefore [the basic allowance] does not set out to fully recompense all work undertaken’. However I can reveal that approximately 87% of County Councillors also receive a Special Responsibilities Allowance (some of up to £22,500 p.a.). On unearthing this figure I did wonder whether an allowance could be described as “special” if nearly 9 in 10 Councillors enjoy one?

Central to my anger is that twenty-eight of these Special Responsibility Allowances can be awarded by political parties directly for being party “spokespersons”. These individuals have no executive function and do not hold ranking positions on any committee. The approximate total cost to the County Council for these spokespersons is £36,000 p.a.

The three political groupings on WCC each have a pot of money to allocate to their Councillors for being spokespeople. The Conservatives have £14,000, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats have £11,000 each. There is no formal job description for what these spokespeople do and they are not accountable to the Council.

I don’t want to condemn all of these Special Responsibility Allowances, of course some Councillors have important executive functions or committees to chair and they should be compensated accordingly. However when around 87% of Councillors receive the so-called Special Responsibility Allowance it would seem to undermine the whole system.

From what I can gather, the spokespeople perform no real task other than what they should be doing anyway as Councillors. The chosen Councillors do not have to fulfil any criteria to receive this money and the Council would not fall apart if they were not paid this expensive top-up to their allowance. Every politician is a spokesperson, that’s the whole point of our existence: to speak up for the people we represent.

This crafty and devious method for increasing Councillors’ allowances is a good example of why politicians are generally held in such low regard. At a time when the County Council is cutting bus and library services to the people I represent, they shouldn’t be engineering ways to slip Councillors thousands of pounds. If the County Council is serious about trimming the fat from their operation, distinctly wasteful expenditure like this should be first on the cuts list rather than starting with libraries and buses.

I think with budget-setting on the horizon, the County Council should move quickly to end the “spokesperson” role and use the savings to protect frontline services. I don’t want to engage in hyperbole here, but watching the County Council withdraw my Village’s library funding while discovering they are giving County Councillors a sly bonus for being spokespeople makes my blood boil.

Festive letter to the papers

Dear Editor

At this special time of year I would like to wish all the people of Rugby a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I especially want to thank those who will be working during the festive season.

I always find this time of year enjoyable and I particularly relish seeing our Villages beautifully decorated, and meeting neighbours at the Church and community events.

I hope that 2012 will be a successful and healthy year for everybody. 

Yours faithfully,

Cllr. Howard Roberts

My seasonal leaflet - with useful contact details

Road Safety Message

Below is my letter to the local papers on the speeding and road safety on rural roads, especially at Christmas:

Dear Editor,

Over the last decade the roads in Warwickshire have seen a welcome reduction in fatalities and injuries. We should all be thankful for this trend, but guard against complacency because a single fatality on our roads is one too many. Unfortunately there is always a spike in accidents at Christmas time and this is especially marked on rural roads.

Within the Dunchurch and Knightlow ward that I represent, like other rural wards in the County, we have many bendy, narrow and unpredictable roads.  The cold weather often makes these routes especially treacherous and I would like to ask that people exercise additional caution over the festive period.

We live in a time when the inexorable improvements in car safety features have reduced the mortality rate on our roads, but we must remain vigilant against careless and often just plain dangerous driving.

I wish all the people of Rugby safe journeys this Christmas.

Cllr. Howard Roberts

Dunchurch and Knightlow Ward

Crackdown on planning rule breakers is welcome

Below is a recent letter to the press on two proposals contained within the Localism Act.

Dear Editor,

It is an inarguable fact that no legislative programme is ever perfect. Laudable aims from successive Conservative, Labour and now Coalition Governments in my lifetime have always had negative consequences presenting at certain points in time.

The Coalition's localism agenda is no exception to this phenomenon of realpolitik. I have been publicly critical of the new planning proposals that will probably lead to unwanted development, especially in the rural areas.

My criticism of the that plank of the legislation remains but there are sizable elements of the agenda that I wholeheartedly support. Contained within localism agenda are plans that would see Councils receive powers to punish individuals who deliberately conceal unauthorised developments. There are also proposals for stronger powers to tackle abuses of retrospective planning permission.

From my time on the planning committee of Rugby Borough Council I have continually seen flagrant breaches of the spirit of enforcement and retrospective planning permission. Planning laws are designed to ensure settles and prosperous communities however there are an arrogant minority who assume the rules do not apply to their developments.

The new legislation still has some way to go in achieving a more equitable arrangement on planning but I believe this crackdown on the more distasteful elements of the system deserves to be applauded.

Yours faithfully,
Cllr. Howard Roberts,
Dunchurch and Knightlow Ward

Call for votes on candidates too

Below is the text of the Rugby Observer article printed on the 27th October (page 11). It reports on my call for open primaries to be used when choosing party candidates for next years local elections.

GIVING voters the power to choose their borough council election candidates is being proposed in a bid to shake-up local politics in Rugby.
 
Tory councillor Howard Roberts wants to see open primary elections held, whereby the electorate vote for the people they wish to be their candidates in council elections.
 
Under the present system a small group of party members - sometimes just a handful - select their candidates behind closed doors.
 
Coun Roberts, Dunchurch and Knightlow representative, has proposed the changes ahead of next May's elections when all seats on Rugby Borough Council will be contested.
 

WCAVA Awards

As you may have seen from previous blog posts and the local press I made a call in the summer for a new awards scheme to honour the unsung heroes of the Borough. After discussions with Council colleagues and officers, it has been possible to enhance an already running scheme that delivers the kind of award I envisaged. Obviously I am delighted.

My idea, which was tabled as a motion to Full Council, called for a new award system to honour those who are often overlooked but deserving anyway. As the Council explored options to facilitate my idea it became clear that the most rapid and effective method would be to enhance the current WCAVA (Warwickshire Community and Voluntary Action) awards scheme while advertising the scheme more vividly.

What I am keen to achieve is recognition for the silent minority who engage in remarkable displays of selfless endeavour. I see these people in my role as Councillor for Dunchurch and Knightlow and I will be looking to nominate several people.

Details can be found on this news item of the Rugby Borough Council website: http://www.rugby.gov.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=856